Hearing expected in Anna Nicole child paternity case

The Bahamas Supreme Court was expected to hold a hearing today in the paternity case of Anna Nicole Smith’s infant daughter.

But lawyers and officials are prohibited by Bahamian legal rules from discussing the case, even to reveal the nature of the hearing.

The baby, Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern, could inherit millions from the estate of Smith’s late husband, Howard Marshall.

Anna Nicole, who collapsed and died on February 8 in Florida from an accidental overdose, had been fighting the Texas oil tycoon’s family over his estimated 500 million dollars (£250million) fortune since his death in 1995.

Howard Stern, Anna Nicole’s partner, yesterday dropped his bid to halt the use of DNA to prove the paternity of the former Playboy Playmate’s daughter when it appeared a Bahamas court was going to reject his appeal.

A lawyer for Mr Stern withdrew the challenge in the face of sceptical questioning by a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeal.

All three judges said Mr Stern filed his challenge too late and should have raised his objections before the Supreme Court ordered DNA testing in the paternity challenge filed by Larry Birkhead, a former boyfriend of Anna Nicole’s who claims to be Dannielynn’s father.

Justice Emmanuel Osadebay noted that Mr Stern himself had agreed to DNA testing - and even suggested an expert to do the analysis – but waited until a week after the sample was taken to file the a challenge to the court’s decision.

“His problem is that the person he wanted to do the testing was not the one selected by the court,” Osadebay said.

In withdrawing the appeal, Stern agreed to pay $10,000 in legal costs incurred by Birkhead and the Bahamian government department in charge of birth certificates.

Mr Stern is listed on the birth certificate as the father of Dannielynn, who was born in the Bahamas in September.

The child’s DNA was tested on March 21 but the results have not been revealed.