LOS ANGELES:

Dannielynn Hope Marshall Birkhead has been handed the keys to the castle. Larry Birkhead’s 18-month-old daughter with Anna Nicole Smith was declared the sole beneficiary to the late model’s estate on March 4, after a Los Angeles judge approved Howard K Stern’s petition to clarify his departed paramour’s earthly intentions.

“We and Mr Stern always believed that Anna Nicole never intended to disinherit her daughter,” Stern’s attorney, Bruce S Ross, said after court on March 4. “I’m pleased to say this chapter in the saga is closed.”

LA Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff’s ruling also establishes a trust on Dannielynn’s behalf, with her father and Stern serving as co-trustees.

The once litigious pair were not present in court, but Ross said that neither had any particular disagreement as far as Dannielynn’s financial future was concerned. DNA confirmed that Birkhead is Dannielynn’s biological father. Smith’s assets at the time of her passing were estimated at $710,000, but the ruling leaves Dannielynn poised to inherit millions if the decade-plus legal battle between Smith (now Smith’s estate) and the family of her late husband, billio-naire oil tycoon J Ho-ward Marshall II, turns in her favour. — Agencies