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MIAMI - A Florida appeals court has suspended a lower court ruling that would have allowed the burial of former Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith in the Bahamas, as the battle over her baby shifted to the Bahamian capital.
The Fourth District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach granted an emergency petition by Smith's mother, Virgie Arthur, to stop a court-appointed guardian for Smith's 5-month-old daughter Dannielynn from taking the body to the islands, where Smith lived the final months of her life.
The legal maneuvering further delayed a funeral for Smith, the buxom tabloid star who died suddenly at age 39 on February 8 at a Florida casino hotel. Her decomposing body remained at a medical examiner's office in Dania Beach, Florida.
Arthur wants Smith buried in her native Texas.
The estate of the former topless dancer and billionaire's widow could ultimately be worth millions if it wins a legal battle over the estate of her late husband, billionaire oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall.
Miami lawyer Richard Milstein, who was appointed as Dannielynn's guardian, said he was arranging to bury Smith beside her son Daniel, who died last year, in the Bahamas.
In Nassau, lawyers for Arthur and Smith's former boyfriend Larry Birkhead, who says he is the baby's biological father, went to court for a hearing in the custody fight.
Smith's longtime lawyer and companion, Howard K. Stern, is listed as the child's father on her birth certificate and also says he is her biological father.
Birkhead, who was mobbed by reporters when he emerged from a closed hearing in Nassau, is seeking a DNA test to prove his paternity.
His lawyer, Debra Opri, said she was challenging the legitimacy of the birth certificate.
"All the pending actions have been consolidated under Mr. Birkhead's fraud action on the birth certificate and we anticipate DNA testing," said Opri after the hearing.
The case was adjourned until mid-March when the court will deal with more procedural issues before a date for a main hearing is set, said Wayne Munroe, an attorney for Smith's estate.
Dannielynn is to stay with Howard K Stern until that time.
A separate case on disputed ownership of the Nassau house where Smith lived with Stern was adjourned until March 14, according to attorney Godfrey Pinder, whose client is pressing to reclaim the property.
- REUTERS
