Anna Nicole Smith's body went to her 5-month-old daughter's guardian after a Florida judge wept through the ruling, and DNA named the girl's father

Anna Nicole Smith gave birth to a daughter, Dannielynn, in the Bahamas on 7 September 2006. Three days later her son Daniel, 20, died in her hospital room. The Bahamian birth certificate named her lawyer and companion Howard K. Stern as the father; the photographer Larry Birkhead sued, claiming paternity. Smith died at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel in Hollywood, Florida, on 8 February 2007, aged 39, of an accidental overdose of chloral hydrate and other prescription drugs. Frederic Prinz von Anhalt then said he might be the father. In Broward County Circuit Court her mother, Virgie Arthur, sought to bury her in Texas, and Stern testified that Smith wanted to be buried with her son. On 22 February 2007 Judge Larry Seidlin, who choked up repeatedly, gave control of the remains to Richard Milstein, Dannielynn's court-appointed guardian, and said he wanted her buried with her son. Arthur appealed and lost. Smith was buried beside Daniel in the Bahamas on 2 March 2007. On 10 April 2007 DNA results showed Birkhead was the father with 99.99% probability, and Stern did not contest custody. Smith's 2001 will left everything to Daniel and named Stern executor. In March 2008 a Los Angeles judge ruled that Dannielynn inherits the estate, in trust, with Birkhead and Stern as co-trustees. In March 2009 California prosecutors charged Stern and two doctors with conspiring to supply controlled substances to an addict. On 28 October 2010 a jury convicted Stern of two felony conspiracy counts and cleared him of nine others. Judge Robert Perry vacated the convictions in 2011. An appeals court overturned that order, and in November 2014 the California Supreme Court ruled he could be retried if granted a new trial. On 22 July 2015 Perry dismissed the case: "Howard Stern simply has been through enough." The estate's claim to the Marshall fortune ended with nothing in 2019. Dannielynn turned 20 in September 2026.