| This thread has been locked, it will not receive new replies. |
|
Locked on 10/13/2007 6:39:17 PM PDT by Admin Moderator, reason:
New thread: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1910919/posts?page=1 |
Posted on 04/07/2007 3:14:35 PM PDT by mom4kittys
Thread Number 3
I am confused because of the media spin and the contradictory statements. IMHO, Howard Stern’s hand is behind it, plus our irresponsible and uninformed media.
Besides the guaranteed visitation dates, what control does Larry have over who is executer and trustee? I’m not even going to pretend to understand this.
Oh Right, ET. Will that be another one that she has to do from across the room??? Or is the OH SO NOBLE HK$ going to let her touch her granddaughter, this time?
Inside the Dannielynn Custody Battle
April 20, 2007
New dad LARRY BIRKHEAD and ANNA NICOLE SMITH’s estranged mother, VIRGIE ARTHUR, faced off in family court today in the custody battle over baby DANNIELYNN. Anna’s partner, HOWARD K. STERN, was also in attendance.
After a quick court session, both Howard and Larry say the end is in sight, but it appears there will be at least one more hearing before a resolution in the case.
“It was a good day for me in court,” Larry told ET.
“It’s disappointing because Virgie is doing the wrong thing,” Howard added.
According to our sources, Virgie’s Bahamian attorney has a full calendar and won’t be able to address the court until a much later date. As it so happens, the judge assigned to the case had previously arranged to take a month off, so it is likely that there will not be another court session specifically related to Virgie’s custody concerns until the middle of June.
Sources also tell ET that Virgie was scheduled to have a one-hour visit with Dannielynn today.
There will be a hearing next week to discuss travel plans for Dannielynn so she can visit the States. Virgie is allegedly unhappy because she has petitioned for Dannielynn to stay in the Bahamas until the custody battle is resolved.
Sources tell ET that Virgie’s legal team hopes that this will turn into a full-blown trial. However, many others feel that is not going to happen.
In the meantime, the little girl will remain in the Bahamas at the only home she’s ever known. She will be under the watchful eyes of Larry and Howard this weekend, as they continue to slowly transition her into Larry’s care.
As for Virgie’s reported demands, “I don’t know what she wants,” Larry says in the new issue of OK! magazine, on stands now.
Last week, Virgie’s Bahamian attorney told our KEVIN FRAZIER that she would “be seeking joint guardianship” of Dannielynn.
“Larry and I will work it out,” Virgie added.
After DNA testing established Larry as the biological father of Dannielynn, Howard stated that he wanted Larry to get sole custody of the seven-month-old girl, and to have complete discretion of when the transition will take place.
Both Larry and Virgie have met privately — with and without their attorneys present — to discuss custody of Dannielynn, but it seems from Larry’s recent OK! interview that they have been unable to reach an agreement.
“If she wants to be a grandmother, that’s fine,” he tells the mag. “I have a mother that wants to be a grandmother and she’s not asking for all these things, so it’s kind of puzzling.”
“I just want to take my daughter home and start a life with her,” he continues. “I already went through a battle to prove that she was mine, and now here we go with possibly another battle.”
In the meantime, Larry has been put on the fast track to fatherhood, and he’s loving every minute of it.
“She has her mom’s long legs and she’s just beautiful,” he tells OK! “She likes me to make funny faces, funny noises and do silly voices for her. It’s so rewarding.”
Larry says that one of his biggest surprises in taking care of Dannielynn was his tolerance for dirty diapers!
“As long as she’s happy, you don’t care what it is,” he explains. “It’s the little things that mean the most to me: the way she looks at me when I do something for her that she really likes.”
Larry says he knows the road ahead will be difficult, but he’s ready to take on the challenge of parenthood with the support of family and friends.
“It’s [a road] that I’m definitely going to be able to handle,” he says, pointing out that he went to baby-care classes right before Dannielynn was born to learn how to change a diaper, hold a baby, bathe a baby, feeding tips and more. “My sisters have babies and have been great. Even Howard has been helpful. He gives me credit when I’m doing good things and gives me tips on things I should do a little different.”
Larry says that despite the awkwardness of the paternity battle he engaged in with Howard, the two are working together for the smooth transition.
“You can’t worry about that stuff too much,” says Larry. “I’m thankful that everyone can get along for Dannielynn. How could you not? She’s so sweet and so cute, arguing is just going to hurt her and not help us any.”
http://www.etonline.com/celebrities/spotlight/47856/index.html
Birkhead Custody Not Yet in the Bank
by Gina Serpe
Fri, 20 Apr 2007 10:18:51 AM PDT
To hear Larry Birkhead tell it, Friday was “a good day for me in court.” Exactly how good remains to be seen.
In accordance with stringent Bahamian privacy laws, the Kentucky-born photographer could not divulge what transpired in the closed-door hearing in his custody bid for the seven-month-old child he had with Anna Nicole Smith, but he was unable to hide his pleasure at what transpired in the Nassau courthouse.
“I can’t talk about what they say in court,” he said upon emerging from the proceedings, a massive grin plastered on his face. “On my behalf, everything went well, and I’m moving towards starting a life with my daughter out of the Bahamas.
“I know I’m going to be making some travel arrangements pretty soon, so everything’s good for me.”
Questioned by reporters as to whether that meant Birkhead would be granted full custody or, at the very least, given the okay to take Dannielynn Hope Marshall Birkhead (née Stern) out of the country, he whipped around to get a nod of approval from his lawyer before turning once again toward the press.
“I can’t really discuss everything. I’ll call my travel agent—one seat or two, I don’t know.”
The 34-year-old did, however, acknowledge that a resolution had not yet been finalized. “Everything’s confusing to me. I don’t even know why we’re still here.”
A follow-up hearing is set for Wednesday.
Friday’s session, originally scheduled to take place Apr. 13, was postponed one week after Smith’s estranged mother, Virgie Arthur, challenged Birkhead’s claim to custody.
The Bahamian judge put the hearing on hold to allow Arthur and Birkhead to attempt to work out visitation guarantees on their own before issuing a formal, binding ruling.
Arthur, as well as Dannielynn’s acting guardian Howard K. Stern, also showed up for Friday’s hearing, though Arthur left the courtroom uncharacteristically mum, further indicating that Birkhead’s “good day” in court may also be one of his last.
Stern, meanwhile, did pay lip service to the throng of reporters, telling them that Arthur “proved herself to be what Anna Nicole always told me,” adding that the custody hearing “should have been over today.”
On Apr. 10, Birkhead appeared on the fast track to full custody after DNA testing revealed in Bahamian court that he was the biological father of Dannielynn, not Stern, putting an end to the paternity dispute that had taken up the better part of a year, ranging across two countries and racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in billable hours.
Since then, Birkhead and Stern have done nothing but alternately sing each other’s praises and question Arthur’s motives.
In an interview with OK! magazine this week, Birkhead credited Stern with being “a great help” in helping him make the transition to parenthood.
“Howard’s been helpful,” he said. “He gives me credit when I’m doing good things and gives me tips on things I should do a little different.”
As for moving past their lawsuit-trading history, Birkhead said that “arguing is only going to hurt [Dannielynn] and not help us any.”
He had less warming words for Arthur.
“It’s puzzling for her to display affection to me, and then for the attorneys to say she’s going for custody and Larry was just a sperm donor and one-night stand. If she wants to be a grandmother, that’s fine...I’m willing to listen to see what people want, but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to agree. I hope I don’t have to fight for the baby.”
Based on Friday’s reactions, it doesn’t look like the battle’s going to last much longer.
http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=4e52e8d0-03a8-419a-b9ea-63306eec866b
Not that I expect Mark Steines to have the intelligence to understand the distinction but "Guardianship" and "Custody" are two different things.
Maybe that is why HKS is still involved in the custody case...maybe HKS has to agree to let Virgie take over as Excutor and Trustee?? That would explain why Larry stated that everything went well for him in court today...It would also mean that HKS is the reason for the DELAY...not just Virgie. It sounds like Larry wants sole custody and he’s got that, but HKS won’t ‘give up’ the precarious hold he has as Executor of the Will and Trustee (of Dannielynn?). Maybe he was hoping the will would be upheld in CA and Daniel’s name would be replaced with Dannielynn’s??
Who knows?? That’s as likely a scenario as some of the others. Does anyone else think this is plausible? It would explain why HKS is still involved in these custody hearings, and why HE is the one who seems ANGRY, not Larry!
Would Virgie be trying to get legal visitation rights and control over her granddaughter and ANS money if ANS was still living? I bet Larry would still be there fighting for his daughter, as he's done since she was born.
Anyone who has custody, guardianship or controls that estate, and attempts to litigate it further on Dannielynn's behalf, especially by appealing for another trial, will cost that child whatever trust or estate that does belong to her. The predictions are, she would be broke!
GMU School of Law
Anna Nicole's Daughter is No Million-Dollar Baby
NIGHTLINE VIDEO: Horace Cooper discusses the Anna Nicole Smith Legal Case
So far the only one who has proven to be a driving force in continuing the appeals with the J. Howard Marshall Estate is Howard K. Stern. After all, if he loses, he doesn't get a penny for 12 years worth of work so far. I completely expect someone with that track record to continue on.
Stern is the refusing to allow Virgie any legal standing to get in his way and custody/guardianship/legal anything will jeopardize his plans. Stern wants control of that estate and has even offered to do it for "free". Well, it's not free. He wants what he initially got involved for. There's an investment here and he doesn't WANT to walk away and count his losses. He was the one who advised his client not to settle when the offer was on the table and took it 12 years into the future and now wants to push it even past her death and put it on the shoulders of an infant.
There's a LOT more at stake here then people understand as a matter of LAW, not tabloid antics. This tabloid crap is just that, nothing but crap. It's smoke and mirrors. The real issues that come into play are down the road. I'm not impressed by the antics today that Mr. Birkhead intended to leave immediately because he's full of it.
Watch the Nightline Video. It explains quite well in layman's terms what is really going on.
LOL....What’s that song by Cyndi Lauper...
Money changes everything.....
If Anna was a street whore, Stern her pimp, Larry one of her johns who forgot a condom, and Virgie a disgruntled mother on welfare poor Dannielynn would be headed to an orphanage.
With Stern’s history with ET isn’t it obvious who their sources are. Only one side is getting their spin out...isn’t there supposed to be a gag order. The judge needs to fine Stern.
Did Virgie try to WARN her daughter about what was going to happen to her? NO, Virgie didn't enter the court system against her own daughter to get legal visitation rights.
BUT HER DAUGHTER IS DEAD. Now, she has no other way to obtain those rights. And I take note that its visitation and not CUSTODY.
I have read that since the Marshall case was sent back to the 9th by the SCOTUS there is actually a decent chance there will be in the $100 million neighborhood in the end.
None of us know until someone decides who is executor and they get the 9th rolling again, it's sitting there in idle right now.
There has been more than once I thought adoption would serve he best when she is older... rather than have to read all this stuff someday.
RE-WRITE:
Larry Birkhead, father of 7 month old hostage, Dannielyn, and Virgie Arthur, mother of murdered Anna Nicole Smith, were both in court today to resolve custody, guardianship and freedom for the child.
Anna’s drug provider, Howard K. Stern, was also in attendance for reasons we know, but refuse to disclose.
It appears there will be at least one more hearing before a resolution in the case.
“It was a good day for me in court,” Larry told ET.
“It’s disappointing because Virgie is doing the wrong thing,” Howard added, “She wants to stick it to me for what I did to Daniel and Anna, but I’m too smart for that.”
Sources (our beloved Howard) also tell ET that Virgie was being allowed to have a one-hour visit with Dannielynn today. It is unclear why she should be permitted to see her granddaughter, especially since the child has been thriving without the presence of this waddling, overweight Texas trooper, for 7 months. However, if Howard can persuade Larry, Virgie will not see or hold Dannielynn for 15 more years.
There will be a hearing next week to allegedly discuss travel plans for Dannielynn so she can allegedly visit the States, since she is allegedly a U.S.Citizen. We are going to assume (because Howard has asked us to) that Virgie is allegedly unhappy because she has petitioned for Dannielynn to stay in the Bahamas until the custody battle is resolved. She really wants to screw Howard out of guardianship so he will not be able to hide all of Anna’s assets and foreign bank accounts.
Sources (our Howard) tells ET that Virgie’s legal team hopes that this will turn into a full-blown trial. We hope so too, to take the focus off Daniel’s inquest. However, many others (who say they are more truthful than Howard) feel that is not going to happen.
In the meantime, the little girl will remain in the Bahamas at the only squatters’ home she’s ever known, first with her drugged up mother and later as a hostage. She will be under the watchful eyes of Howard and his hidden cameras, videotaping Larry.
As for Virgie’s reported demands, “I don’t know what she wants, but she is clearly worried about me and Dannielyn ” Larry says in the new issue of OK! magazine, on stands now.
You can read more if you pay for it. We have given Howard so much money - we can barely keep up with the expense.
What Nightline Video? I get a google search page with the link that you provided.
If it was only visitation this would be solved now... so we know it’s more than visitation since Larry has always said he wanted Virgie to see her grandchild.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.