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Custody of Anna Nicole’s baby still unclear

Fri Apr 13, 2007 5:08PM EDT

NASSAU (Reuters) - A hearing in a Bahamas court on Friday failed to end a prolonged battle over custody of late Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith’s daughter, 7-month-old Dannielynn.

Larry Birkhead, a Los Angeles photographer and former boyfriend of the billionaire’s widow, was identified on Tuesday as the father of the baby, who could one day be worth a fortune if Smith’s estate wins a decade-long battle to inherit from her former oil tycoon husband J. Howard Marshall.

But Friday’s hearing over custody of Dannielynn, at which Birkhead had been widely expected to be awarded guardianship based on court-ordered DNA tests, adjourned soon after it got under way.

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Damien Gomez, an attorney for Smith’s long-time companion Howard K. Stern, said the hearing was suspended at the request of lawyers for both Birkhead and Smith’s mother Virgie Arthur.

Gomez did not elaborate. But John O’Quinn, Arthur’s lawyer, told reporters Birkhead and his client had agreed to meet privately on Saturday in an apparent bid to reach an agreement over custody of the child.

Without any lawyers present, O’Quinn said the father and grandmother of Dannielynn would try “to figure out what they believe is in the best interest of this child and try to get it done.”

Whatever plan they come up with would then be submitted for court approval, O’Quinn said.

The abrupt death of Smith in a Florida hotel casino on February 8 of an accidental drug overdose set off a three-way battle for the former topless dancer’s baby.

Stern was listed on Dannielynn’s Bahamian birth certificate as her father but he publicly removed himself from the custody fight on Tuesday, saying Birkhead had undisputed rights to the child.

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN1343338320070413