NASSAU, Bahamas - Anna Nicole Smith's five-month-old daughter and the baby's purported father have reclaimed the Bahamas mansion where they lived before the former Playboy Playmate died last week, her lawyer said.
Not only is the paternity of Smith's baby -- who stands to inherit a fortune from Smith's late husband -- in dispute but so is the Bahamas mansion where Smith had been living.
Smith, who died in Florida on Thursday, claimed a U.S. developer and former boyfriend, G. Ben Thompson, gave her the house. But Thompson said he had only loaned it to Smith -- and during the weekend had the locks changed.
Smith's lawyer and companion, Howard Stern -- one of three men who claims to be the baby's father -- had the locks changed again and on Sunday was once again at the gated waterfront estate, known as "Horizons.''
The baby girl, Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern, was also there, lawyer Wayne Munroe said. Stern's mother entered the white house, as well. Smith's mother, Vergie Arthur, was seen at the gates but she did not go inside.
Munroe said he has filed a robbery complaint with police over computer equipment, drawings and paintings allegedly taken from the home and authorities interviewed the housekeeper. Police said Sunday they are investigating.
Munroe said the house now belongs to Stern, Smith's companion.
"Right now, Howard is very happy to be reunited with Dannielynn but extremely angry that somebody had the gall to break into Anna's residence,'' Stern's spokesman, Ron Rale, said Sunday by telephone from Los Angeles.
Smith's ownership of the mansion was the basis of her claim to residency in the Bahamas. In a lawsuit, Smith asked a court to recognize her as the owner and reject Thompson's claim on the house in the exclusive neighbourhood.
The island chain's Supreme Court has scheduled a Feb. 26 hearing on the matter, Munroe said.
Munroe said Smith's will would be admitted to probate -- under which the will is officially proved as authentic or valid -- in the Bahamas and the process can take from one year to 18 months. He said he has not been advised of funeral plans but he expected Smith would be buried in the Bahamas alongside Daniel Smith, her 20-year-old son who died in September.
Who will be given custody of the baby girl is not clear.
Munroe said Stern, who is listed on a birth certificate as Dannielynn's father, is due custody. But two other men have challenged for paternity.
A former boyfriend, Larry Birkhead, has filed a lawsuit claiming he is the father. On Friday, Prince Frederic von Anhalt, the husband of actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, announced he had a decade-long affair with Smith and he may be the girl's father.
The New York Daily News newspaper also reported Saturday a manuscript it obtained by Smith's half-sister, Donna Hogan, said Smith froze the sperm of her late 90-year-old husband, Texas oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall before his death and may have used it to become pregnant.
Since Marshall's death in 1995, Smith had been waging a court battle at her death over his estate. A federal court in California awarded Smith US$474 million but that was later overturned. In May, the U.S. Supreme Court revived her case, ruling she deserved another day in court.
Experts say the decision of who has custody could determine the child's inheritance.
Smith gave birth to Dannielynn on Sept. 7 in a Nassau hospital. Three days later, Daniel Smith, died while visiting her in the hospital. A medical examiner hired by the family concluded he died from an accidental combination of methadone and antidepressants but results of an official autopsy have not been released. An inquest into his death is scheduled to begin March 27.
Smith's mother arrived Friday in Nassau to check on her granddaughter, said Reginald Ferguson, assistant commissioner for the Royal Bahamas Police Force.
Arthur, who was reported staying in a resort in Nassau's famed Cable Beach, told ABC's Good Morning America she believes her daughter died from a drug overdose. Rale declined comment on an MSNBC report Sunday, citing anonymous sources, that said Smith recently had surgical procedures and was taking pain medication.
