Los Angeles - He wasn't the husband. He wasn't the baby daddy. But as long as there are court documents to be filed, Howard K. Stern is still in the picture.
However, the former Playboy Playmate still owed $1.1 million in mortgage on the property, per the petition, reducing her total assets to $710,000. (View the documents in PDF format.)
Smith's daughter, 8-month-old Dannielynn Hope Marshall Birkhead; the baby's biological father, Larry Birkhead; Stern; and attorneys Ron Rale and Eric Lund (included as first and second successor executors) are the individuals listed as having an interest in Smith's estate. Wells Fargo Bank was listed as successor executor.
Missing was the reality-TV star's estranged mother, Virgie Arthur, who is currently fighting Birkhead for at least partial custody or visitation rights with Dannielynn. The opposing parties are due back in court in the Bahamas June 8 for a final custody hearing.
Arthur also battled Stern for custody over Smith's remains, wanting her to be buried in Houston, despite Stern's insistence that his longtime client turned companion would have wanted to be laid to rest in the Bahamas, next to her son Daniel. The prerogative was eventually turned over to Dannielynn's guardian ad litem, who helped secure a Bahamian burial.
Smith died Feb. 8 of an accidental overdose of prescription medication.
Stern's attorney, Vivian Thoreen, requested that her client, who's currently still in the Bahamas and has waived any right to compensation for acting as executor, be appointed special administrator "to immediately marshal and preserve the assets of the estate." She stated that there's currently no one else available to step up, a job that will include, among other things, dealing with any pending litigation that could affect Smith's assets.
A probate hearing has been scheduled for June 19.
When she died, Smith had been sparring with the family of her late octogenarian oil-tycoon husband, J. Howard Marshall II¡ªwho died in August 1995, just a little more than a year after they tied the knot¡ªfor more than a decade over what she viewed as her rightful inheritance, which at one time totaled as much as $474 million.
The case is currently standing by in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. If Smith's estate succeeds in securing even a morsel of that inheritance, Dannielynn¡ªas Smith's only heir¡ªstands to inherit millions.