Florida Judge Larry Seidlin has handed control of Anna Nicole Smith's body to attorney Richard Milstein, frequently coming close to tears as he delivered his ruling.
Milstein is the court-appointed guardian of Smith's five-month-old daughter Dannielynn, who is currently in the Bahamas.
He has said Smith will be buried there next to her son, Daniel Smith, which the judge had wanted.
Daniel Smith died just three days after the birth of Dannielynn, as he sat beside his mother's hospital bed.
"I want them to be together," the judge said, seemingly on the verge of crying.
Speaking to CNN, broadcaster Larry King wondered if Seidlin was playing for the cameras and using the chance to audition for his own show.
"The general thinking is that Judge Larry is going to be a male 'Judge Judy' -- that he is already pitching to host a television show," said King.
Speaking earlier to the various parties hoping to win custody of Smith's body -- including her estranged mother Virgie Arthur, former lover Larry Birkhead and companion Howard K. Stern -- Seidlin told them he had a deep emotional investment in the trial.
"I have suffered with this; I have struggled with this. I have shed tears for your little girl and your grandchild," he told the parties.
"But let me tell you something: in the old days I would be banging some heads together. I mean it. You all really should do the right thing by this Daniellyn."
Smith, a regular presence in American tabloids for her marriage to an oil tycoon and bizarre, possibly drug-induced behaviour, died Feb. 8 in a Florida hotel.
While Stern is listed as Dannielynn's father on the girl's birth certificate, Birkhead also claimed to be the dad.
Birkhead, Stern and Arthur gave a joint press conference after the ruling, during which Birkhead spoke the most.
"I think what's most important is that we all try to work together," he said.
Arthur approached the microphones only briefly, saying she loved her daughter "with all my heart."
Seidlin appointed Milstein last week to take over guardianship of Smith's daughter. He has 30 years experience, according to the Miami office of the Akerman Senterfitt law firm.
Birkhead's lawyers are pushing for a DNA test to confirm Dannielynn's father. A California judge is currently handling the paternity case.
