Supreme Court Rules Against Anna Nicole Smith Estate

By Marc Schneider Posted Jun 24th 2011 10:01AM

The long, sad, and convoluted saga of Anna Nicole Smith versus the estate of her late husband is over. The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled against Smith's estate, which long-argued that she was promised $300 million dollars from oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall, who married the bombshell model when he was 89 to her 26 years. Marshall's will gave his $1.6 billion fortune to his son, and the high court ruled 5-4 that a bankruptcy judge's ruling in 2002 to give her a huge chunk of that was decided incorrectly.

The five-member conservative wing of the court ruled against Smith's estate, headed by Larry Birkhead, who fathered a daughter with the model, and attorney Howard K. Stern.

In writing the decision, Chief Justice John Roberts said that "although the bankruptcy court had the statutory authority to enter judgment on Vickie's counterclaim, it lacked the constitutional authority to do so."

The family of E. Pierce Marshall, the late son of J. Howard Marshall, cheered the decision.

"J. Howard's wishes were always perfectly clear: He gave Anna Nicole Smith approximately $8 million in gifts during his lifetime, and those gifts were all that he intended to give her," said Eric Brunstad, the Marshalls' lawyer.

The saga goes like this:

A wheelchair-bound Marshall met Smith (Vickie Lynn Smith at the time) in the early 1990s at a Houston strip club, where she worked. He became instantly smitten with her and began buying her homes, cars and horses. They wed in June 1994, against his family's wishes. She famously left him in tears immediately after their "I Do's" to fly off to a modeling job and they reportedly never lived together.
Marshall died 13 months later, on August 4, 1995. His will left his estate to his son, with no mention of his third wife, who had in that short period of time become on internationally ogled Playboy and Guess model.
Smith challenged the will, claiming Marshall promised her $300 million, but a Houston court decided he was mentally fit when he filed his updated will giving his wife nothing.
The model moved to California and later filed for bankruptcy. A bankruptcy judge awarded her $475 million from Marshall's estate, but that amount was reduced in 2002 to $89 million by a federal judge.
Then, an appeals court in San Francisco threw that ruling out, saying a bankruptcy judge could not rule on that kind of case (probate).

The court's liberal wing (Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor) argued that bankruptcy courts do indeed play a role in these matters and that the decision could force a large number of cases in bankruptcy courts to have to be bumped into federal courts.

In his decision with the majority, Roberts bluntly acknowledged how confusing, and ultimately tragic, the case was.

This "suit has, in course of time, become so complicated, that ... no two ... lawyers can talk about it for five minutes, without coming to a total disagreement as to all the premises. Innumerable children have been born into the cause; innumerable young people have married into it."

He also said that sadly, both Smith and E. Pierce Marshall "have died out of it."

The AP: "The younger Marshall died in 2006 and Smith died of a drug overdose in 2007. Smith's daughter, Dannielynn Birkhead, was named Smith's heir in 2008. The girl's father, Larry Birkhead, and attorney Howard K. Stern are in charge of the estate."

Tags: Anna Nicole Smith, J. Howard Marshall, Supreme Court

Comments

(37)

Friday 24 June

By Fern

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Now larry birkhead will have to get a job.

By joan

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How do you know if Birkhead works or not? Do you know Birkhead or his family personally that you don't think he works? I doubt it, so do not make such remarks....

By Tobi

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Say what you will about this case but I think that until recently, Larry has done an amazing job of keeping that little girl out of the limelight and letting her have as normal a childhood as possible.

The only loser in this situation is an adorable little girl whose mother was drug addicted and a bunch of loser panderers who lived with her. Larry Burkett may not be liked by some, but at least he has taken good care of the child he fathered with Anna. I hope he will still do so, and think he will.

By Teresa

This man had Billions. And they were married. He may have told her that. Who is to say they did not. He had so much why not just let her have some and let her go on her merry way. They spent that much more Fighting their respective claims,in a broken court system that should have ended this along time ago.

By PAUL

THOSE LIBERALS OBAMA PUT ON THE SUPREME COURT,ARE VERY DANGEROUS TO THIS COUNTRY,HOPEFULLY,HE WON'T B RE-ELECTED,SO HE CAN'T DESTROY THE SYSTEM ANY FURTHER!
MY GOD ,TO THINK THEY WILL B THERE 4 LIFE!!!!!!!
HOPEFULLY,THEY WILL HAVE SHOT LIVES!

By jg11364

the best chance Dannielynn has of a normal life is to not get the money. We don't need any more poor little rich girls throwing their lives away on excess and drugs. It's in her DNA from her mom.

Since Anna burned through the 8 million and then some. Let everyone rest in peace. Larry gets a real job put Dannie through college and she can contribute to society in a real and positive way (I hope). Or she could do a sex tape and get a reality show on E!.

By garytheprinter

The poor starving child...Never breastfed and nurtured. I feel sorry......GET OVER IT ALL OF YOU

By Laura

I have to disagree with some of the posts. He had to have known she wouldnt have stuck around, yet he chose to marry her. Had I been her, yes I would have stayed, shown hes family I was going to work for the money hed end up giving me. Poor man was in love with her beauty, many men are over taken with that. But she does deserve more. Just because he "gifted" her items, doesnt mean by LAW she doesnt deserve the money as well. Yes she greedy and shameless, but she still married him. She should get her portion and thats it. Now it goes to her daughter.

By Spaceman Eddie

I'm confused. Exactly what did the son and the son's sons do to earn the money? Or Howard K. Stern? Or Anna's kids?

By bailey

You are so right.

Saturday 25 June

By glenn

howard k stern is a contract attorney who worked on marshall case since 2000. he had a contract regarding the marshall litigation just like all attorneys.

By Yessica Almazan

Lesson to all the gold-diggers out there:
If you're going to doin it, doin' right...not leaving your husband for modeling projects...
And for Larry Birkhead and Howard Stern: GET A JOB!

By Brad

Everytime I see Anna's name all I think about are her boobs. LOL! I could care less about her dead self or her uguly child.

Sorry I meant ugly.

Sunday 26 June

By mikk

larry birkhead impregnated drug addict for the fame and money. he lived with his boyfriend when he met her. he deserved nothing. message to him: get a job ASAP! you are nobody!

Monday 04 July

By msboss

if she got 89 million that was pleant!! whats with the greed or WAS with the greed.. geesh, thats more then 99.9% of the population would even get in a divorce, I woulda took it and ran far far far away. I do feel bad though at how her and her sons lives turned out so tragic! if she wold have stayed where she came from she and he would both probably still be alive. sad

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