FIGHTING CONTINUES OVER ANNA NICOLE SMITH
Hard hitting Lawyers for Anna Nicole Smith's estate, have stepped up the ongoing battle over the late reality star's inheritance from her dead husband, and are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to finally resolve the dispute, once and for all. Smith, who died in 2007 at the age of 39, was 26 when she married 89-year-old oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II in 1994. He died only a year later, and Smith claimed her husband had made an oral promise to give her half his huge estate. Smith, who was born Vickie Lynn Hogan, battled her late spouse's son, E. Pierce Marshall, to be awarded $88.5 million of his fortune. But the money has been held up in the appeals court, with Pierce Marshall arguing that various wills and trusts his father had prepared over the years named him sole heir. The Supreme Court ruled in May 2006 that Smith could pursue her late husband's fortune in the federal courts. Pierce Marshall died a month later, but the battle continued with the executors of his estate, and it is still going on after Smith's death, with her lawyers seeking the money on behalf of the star's 2-year-old daughter, Dannielynn. And now Smith's lawyers have filed papers claiming the dispute needs to be settled soon as most of Marshall's $125 million estate is now owed to the Internal Revenue Service, and Smith's settlement risks being lost if it continues to be held up by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The papers state, "Vickie's estate will undeniably suffer irreparable harm if the stay is not vacated, as Pierce's executor claims there is no money to pay the district court judgment, and Vickie's estate cannot pursue Pierce's missing billions unless and until the stay (hold on the money) is vacated."
Comments
As a result this case has potentially ominous consequences. If the federal courts ultimately Anna Nicole’s legal team for its efforts, all of our estates are in jeopardy. The legal attack on this estate is a potentially new and dangerous type of litigation abuse which will inflict an enormous burden on the inheritance plans of all Americans, particular baby boomers who are now just entering retirement age. For them there are trillions of dollars are at stake. This case could decide whether they – or the courts- will choose their beneficiaries. With such a precedent on their side, unscrupulous lawyers and would-be heirs could overturn any testators expressed wishes by dissolving their life savings with legal fees or unintended inheritance judgments.