And now the ending of our accidental oil baron trilogy. Anna Nicole Smith married 89 year old
J. Howard Marshall at the age of 26, a story we detailed last week.
Let's fast forward a bit to September 2006. Smith had moved to the Bahamas to give birth to her daughter, Dannielynn on the 7th. She was there with her son and attorney-turned-lover Howard K. Stern (not the shock jock). He was listed as Dannielynn's father on the birth certificate. Three days later, tragedy struck and Smith's son died of an overdose.
Needless to say, Smith was distraught, which is probably why she never updated her Will to remove her son as the only heir and specifically excluded any other children she might have. This caused problems when Smith died in 2007.
While Dannielynn's father was listed as Stern, there were questions about the paternity. This turned out to be valid, since Larry Birkhead ultimately turned out to be her father.
In 2008, Dannielynn was finally declared to be Smith's heir, inheriting $700,000.
Right after a family tragedy the last thing you're thinking about is updating your estate plan, but it is an important step that is often overlooked. But I know you all know this already, since you're such loyal readers of these posts. Contact
Harrison Estate Law to learn more.
