Anna Nicole Makes Probate Sexy

Despite my best efforts to avoid the Anna Nicole Smith story, I have been awed by the public fascination with the workings of the Probate Court. Admit it. Probate is sexy. The Probate Court is really a reflection of life itself. It's where babies are adopted, couples are divorced, mentally disabled people are protected, the hardest decisions of life and death are aired to the world, and decedents' property is accounted for in an orderly manner. Anna Nicole spent most of her adult life in the Probate Court in Texas, then her body and her infant child generated more legal filings in a couple of months in the Probate Court than Howard Hughes did in twenty years. The Bahamas is not known for having a sophisticated legal system. I have had matters there over the years and once spent three days in Nassau trying to get a court official to acknowledge that a deed was signed in the prescribed manner - not rocket science. The main delay appeared to be the extensive break schedule made part of every Bahamian's work day. The Bahamas is mainly known as being an affordable place to do absolutely nothing in bright sunshine. So it is with some surprise that the Bahamian courts could actually get their act together sufficiently to figure out who fathered Anna Nicole's little girl. Of course, the proceedings were held behind closed doors and with limited public participation. You wonder what happens behind those doors. My guess is ten minutes of reading the doctor's report that Larry did the deed and three hours of tiddlywinks to make the appearance of lengthy deliberation. Now that Larry Birkhead is the father of Daniellynn the Probate Court will need to determine what is in the best interests of the child. It appears that since Daniellynn was born in The Bahamas, she is a Bahamian or at least has claim to being a Bahamian. She's also American by virtue of her parents. As she is in The Bahamas now, I presume that the Bahamian Probate Court will adjudicate her case. I think their laws, such as they are, are similar to typical US probate laws. In Massachusetts, Larry Birkhead would have first standing before the Probate Court. So long as he is not incapable of properly caring for the child then as the biological parent he will have custody of the child. This custody would be unsupervised as he is the natural parent - and we all know you don't need a license to be a parent. The role of the Probate Court in this type of case is to protect the best interests of the child. This child comes with quite a dowry. You see Daniellynn, as her mother's sole surviving child, can lay claim under US Probate laws (presumably in Texas Probate Court) to her dear-departed step-dad's fortunes. Anna Nicole as you will remember spent the better part of the last decade in the Probate Court fighting for her inheritance. It's not nice to make fun of the dead, so I won't... Daniellynn will inherit, as an intestate heir, all that Anna Nicole had at death including her stake in Howard Marshall, II's vast fortune - or at least what her lawyers can settle for with Howard's family. With all the paparazzi hanging around the Probate Court, you wonder if us Probate lawyers will become celebrities? One can only hope. GosselinLaw.com >