Anna Nicole Smith’s Baby Is Clear To Leave Bahamas
Posted April 28, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A Bahamian court cleared the way Friday for Anna Nicole Smith’s ex-boyfriend to leave with their baby daughter, rejecting an appeal by the mother of the former reality TV star.
The judges ruled that a U.S. court would likely have the final say in the custody dispute between Virgie Arthur and Larry Birkhead, who was confirmed as the 7-month-old baby’s father after undergoing DNA testing.
Arthur was challenging a judge’s decision to let Birkhead leave the island with Dannielynn.
Her attorneys argued that Birkhead might not return as directed for another private hearing in the case June 8.
“I’m happy because this is nonsense really,” Birkhead told media outside the courthouse.
Birkhead, a 34-year-old Los Angeles photographer, picked up a revised birth certificate at the Nassau registry later Friday.
A court ordered the name of Smith’s last companion, Howard K. Stern, removed and the girl’s last name changed to Birkhead, according to a report obtained by a news agency.
The three-member appeals panel noted that both Arthur and Birkhead wanted to take the child to the United States.
“So what is the problem, what is the fear? The child is going to the States anyhow, no matter who gets custody,” Justice Emmanuel E. Osadebay said.
The court also ordered Arthur to pay Birkhead $3,000 in legal costs.
Smith, 39, died in February from an accidental drug overdose in Florida.
Arthur left the courthouse after the ruling without commenting.
The girl could inherit a fortune if lawyers resolve challenges over her mother’s estate in her favor.
When she died of an accidental drug overdose in a Florida hotel room, lawyers were still wrangling over the estate of Smith’s late husband, the Texas oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II, estimated to be worth more than $1 billion.
Smith gave birth to Dannielynn only days before her 20-year-old son Daniel died of a drug overdose at her bedside.
