In the past year Anna Nicole Smith has wowed the celebrity party circuit by losing three and a half stones. But it seems the glamorous star may have to tighten her belt even further, after she was stripped of her $88.5-million inheritance.
An appeals court has overruled the 2002 decision awarding the blonde bombshell a huge chunk of her late husband's fortune. The ruling is just the latest twist in a long-running feud between the 34-year-old and her stepson Pierce.
Anna Nicole was just 26 when she married 90-year-old oil tycoon J Howard Marshall. The former topless model was not mentioned in any of his six wills, but argued she was entitled to a share of his estate because he had promised to take care of her.
Back in 2000 a federal bankruptcy judge awarded her $474 million from the fortune, but that ruling was thrown out in 2001. The following year the US District Court once again sided with Smith, when Judge David Carter said her marriage was "driven by greed and lust", but he was "convinced of Marshall's love for her".
The US Circuit Court of Appeals has now decided that Judge Carter did not have the necessary authority to make that ruling, however. According to the three-man panel a previous decision made in the Texas state probate court, which declared Pierce Marshall the sole heir, should stand. "It is undisputed that Texas law governs the 1982 trust and the last will and testament of J Howard Marshall," said the ruling. |
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