Dannielynn Custody On Hold Amid Settlement Talks
by Gina Serpe
Fri, 13 Apr 2007 02:01:14 PM PDT
Friday the 13th may not have brought bad luck to Larry Birkhead, but it didn’t bring him good luck either.
Despite expectations that Birkhead would leave a closed-door hearing in the Bahamas Friday with sole custody of seven-month-old daughter Dannielynn, the court adjourned for the day without rendering a decision.
Birkhead scored a major victory in court Tuesday, when DNA tests confirmed he, not Howard K. Stern, was the biological father of Anna Nicole Smith’s much-disputed daughter. Since then, the Kentucky-born photographer has been attempting to work out a private custody arrangement with Smith’s mother, Virgie Arthur. The judge decided to give Birkhead and Arthur time to work out a compromise before handing down a ruling.
The girl cannot be taken out of the Bahamas until the matter is resolved.
Birkhead, Stern and Arthur all appeared for Friday’s brief hearing at the Nassau courthouse. The proceedings began at 2:30 p.m. local time and lasted just over a half-hour before Stern emerged.
“If it were up to me, the formal order in terms of giving Larry full custody would have occurred today,” Stern said. “At least informally, the transition period has already begun.”
Stern added that Birkhead, who left the courthouse without speaking to the press, has visited Dannielynn throughout the week, “changing diapers, feeding her, playing with her...he’s doing a great job.” The child has been with Stern, who had been listed on the birth certificate as the father, since Smith’s Feb. 8 death.
While Stern did not give a reason as to the adjournment, he said that “people can draw their own conclusions.”
John O’Quinn, Arthur’s lawyer, was next to exit the courthouse. He said that his client and Birkhead would meet privately Saturday with “no lawyers, no press, nothing but two human beings to figure out what’s in the best interest of the child.”
Birkhead, who announced Wednesday that he was not willing to split or in any way share custody of the child, initially met with Arthur, and their respective attorneys, on Thursday evening at her request.
A week ago, before the paternity issue was settled, Arthur mounted her own seemingly long-shot bid for legal custody of Dannielynn as the girl’s last remaining blood relative. After Tuesday’s paternity announcement, Arthur said she was relieved at the outcome and referred to Birkhead as “a good guy,” but refused to discuss her pending motion.
Thursday’s meeting focused on the legal maneuvering and potential visitation rights.
“I’d just like to listen I guess,” Birkhead told Access Hollywood prior to the get-together. “I don’t know what anybody wants to say to me. I don’t know really what there is to talk about, but I’m glad to sit down and have a discussion.”
As for splitting custody with Arthur, Birkhead said, “I’ve never even heard of that. Custody for a grandparent? I’ve never heard that when there is a fit parent that’s totally capable. I mean, it’s like if that is what her attorneys are saying is her position then maybe my parents need to come for custody, too. It just doesn’t make sense.”
Surprisingly, Stern sees it that way, too. After coming out on the losing end of Tuesday’s paternity ruling, Smith’s lawyer/companion told reporters that he would do “whatever I can to make sure he gets sole custody.”
While Stern is formally in charge of Smith’s estate, it’s Dannielynn who will likely receive any inheritance that Smith had coming from her marriage to oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II, whose fortune topped $500 million.
Not that Birkhead is relying on that money to keep Dannielynn in diapers.
He told Access Hollywood that he was toying with the idea of releasing an official photo of him and his daughter to head off the paparazzi headhunting that would inevitably follow his trip back to the U.S. Birkhead said that any proceeds from the photo would go into a trust for Dannielynn.
Fox News aslo reported that Birkhead has inked signed a “high six-figure deal” with NBC-owned Bravo for exclusive access to his baby-daddy saga. The cable news net reported that NBC would simply repurpose Birkhead’s exclusives with Access for use on their artsy cable offshoot. NBC, however, has denied the report.
In any event, Birkhead and Stern say they planned to transition the girl between the two men over the course of the next two to four weeks.
http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=04e99388-1f76-429b-9a80-1662d8080389
When I heard OQ make that statement, I wondered if this is exactly what he was hoping. Who knows what he has on HKS.
This won't happen IMO...