Anna's Mom Lawyers Up

Virgie Arthur and Larry BirkheadTMZ has learned Anna Nicole Smith's mother has hired a Florida lawyer to get Anna's body released for burial.

We've confirmed that Virgie Arthur has hired Coral Gables attorney Stephen Tunstall to secure the body. But there's a catch: There are two outstanding California court orders preventing burial. A judge has put a hold on the release of the body; a second order demands a DNA sample from Smith.

We're told Larry Birkhead's lawyer, Debra Opri, will ask a Miami court to "domesticate" both orders from the California court. If granted, the orders would have full force and effect in Florida. We're told Opri is making the requests in Florida today and tomorrow.

But there's a twist. We're told Birkhead has no objections to releasing the body, provided he gets a DNA sample sent to the lab he selected. For some reason, we're told Stephen Tunstall has not agreed to release the DNA to Birkhead's lab.

TMZ spoke with Tunstall, who said "I have been retained by Virgie. I do not wish to have any contact with anybody in the media."

Reader Comments

(Page 12 of 12) Previous 15 Comments

166. I for one think that Anna's mom is NOT a villain here. I believe that she wants whats best for the baby. Howard & Anna had a very obvious and demented codependent relationship. I could see the obsession in his eyes any time I saw photos or footage of them together. She tolerated him because he catered to her druggie whims and ego. I look at pictures of her and no doubt about it, the woman was absolutely beautiful. But once she opened her mouth in the last several years the illusion of beauty quickly turned to repugnance. She was painfully self consumed. i believe that she loved her son, but she loved herself and her addictions more. She loved what complete strangers telling her that they "love" her made her feel like even more than life itself. Her life or her children. We all have a skeleton in the closet, but perhaps hers were catching up to her and she just couldn't even function any more without the drugs, reality was probably just too shitty. Her mom would have taken her back in her arms in a heartbeat if Anna had wanted her to. I think her mom would have chosen for Anna to remain anonymous instead of being the famous laughingstock that she became. Her mom would probably sell her soul to be able to turn back the hands of time and have her daughter get on track instead of dying this way. I have 2 beautiful little girls and I would NEVER wish for them to seek fame or spotlight. Too many predators and pitfalls in that cesspool known as fame.

Posted at 8:44PM on Feb 19th 2007 by Sharon

167. Hello,
Point is, that Anna, dead or alive cannot decide on amendments of statutes ! No one can decide whether a statute is or is not viable cause to act upon or change ! If we the people ammend such laws, then law has no place in our society! But then again most just sleep and shoot their own foot off!
Is a Judge God!? Can he ammend the very laws he himself must keep!? No? O.K. Then which laws can we throw out whenever we want? The law breaks the law every day in this country.. Is that what the people really want !?
Eugene Crawford Coopersburg PA


Posted at 4:15PM on Feb 20th 2007 by Bud Crawford

168. As a mother I can't see why this woman would keep her daughters decaying body for this circus. It would break my heart. I would bury her already. Her sole is gone she is at peace. She needs to visit her morals. You don't have to visit anywhere to talk to someone who has moved on.

Posted at 2:01PM on Feb 22nd 2007 by Kathleen Baker

169. Virgie Arthur gave birth to Anna Nicole and raised her.
Because of Anna's career as a ??????? she also raised
Anna's Son, her grandson until he was 6 or 7.

Anna claimed Daniel when she had money from her questionable
marriage(?) to her 90 yr. old husband J. Howard Hunt.
Until that point, She never objected to her mother raising
and caring for the child she professed to love more than life.
This in spite of her rant about her mother "the bitch" and her life
of hell, and abuse both physical and sexual.

WHY DID SHE LEAVE DANIEL TO THIS SAME FATE?
Could be she was manipulated by her so called lawyer to satisfy his
own interests, his lust for money and support for himself.
Anna, no doubt would want to be buried next to her son, but
her son can be moved.

These allegations never arose until her involvement with
Howard K Smith.
This man who, it seems, at the very least, condoned and supplied her
with drugs.

Anna Nicole should be declared incompetent based on her demonstrated
lack of understanding and drugged state..and Howard
Stern's manipulative tactics brought before proper authorities.
His complicity in supplying and enhancing her drugs improperly
should be prosecuted.

This man is at the very least...appears involved in involuntary manslaughter..
TWICE! Who do you think Anna was screaming at "THIS IS YOUR FAULT"
while finding her dearest and only son dead.
WHO CAN VIRGIE ARTHUR SCREAM AT?

Me..I would be tempted to find my own redress for the wrongs committed
against my daughter and grandson.

Which drug addict can you name who welcomes intervention, criticism
and efforts to get them into rehab. They resent it and the people
(No matter the love and concern} who force them to confront their
drug abuse?

Who did this? Virgie Arthur and Larry Burkhead, they took risks to
try to help Anna. Larry enabled her lifestyle and benefitted from it.

Dannielynn cannot make decisions. The next of kin who should
be burying HER CHILD is Virgie Arthur.

Everyone mentioned probably has a "money interest", but most
of us do when we are legitimate heirs. Few sign it over to a
non related stranger. Get real,

Posted at 12:02PM on Feb 23rd 2007 by bram

170.

Comments:
Hello,

My name is Amy Lee and I would to share my opinion on where anna nicole smith should be buried.
Paternity test MUST be performed immediately!

My name is Amy Lee and I would to share my opinion on where anna nicole smith should be buried. paternity test MUST BE done immediately because if Howard is not a biological father of Danniely, he has no legal right of custody of Anna's body or decision on where she has to be buried. Well, let's assume that Anna is buried in Bahama next to Daniel. After Anna's buried, the result of paternity test came out that he is not a father of Danniely and Larry is proven to be a father of Danniely so that Larry will take custody of Danniely and bring her home to California, what will happen to these two cold bodies alone in Bahama? Will Howard live in Bahama taking care of these two cold bodies under the ground? No way, he will move back to US to start working as a lawyer or whatever. Poor Daneil and Anna! They will be alone in Bahama without a family nor relatives....do you know where I am going to? Well, Maybe Virgie then has to dig their graves to bring them home. What a tragedy will be? Let's say even Howard is proven to be a father of Danniely. Can you guarantee that he will live with Danniely next to her step-brother and her mother's grave? I don't see that Howard will live in Bahama for the two bodies. He will move back to US. Well, again these two bodies will be laid with their eyes closed crying for God's mercy. I bet Howard will resist on paternity test as long as he can so that he can earn time until Danniely can start babbling. Do you know where I am going to? Well, he will try to make her spit a word of "papa" to him. If he takes video of the moment she is calling him "papa" smiling, then he might have a chance to take a custody of Danniely even though she is not her biological daughter. Because at the end everyone will consider her best interest. I bet he will tape that moment and will bring it as an evidence that he is the right one for custody of her. More time Danniely and Howard spend together, whoever biological father might have less chance to take custody of Danniely and I don't think it's fair for biological father. Since she is just five month old and she doesn't know anything, Danniely should be with whoever legal guardian rather than these three or four or five people who claims to be a biological father of her.



To satisfy everybody in court and audience and fans of anna nicole smith, I think one fact we should never forget about is that we can't separate LOVE and Family. I've watched court hearings and I just want to speak out what has to be done. In a one word of all the things I will be talking about is Perternity test MUST BE done immediately. These are the facts which made me to come to the conclusion.

We are considering three different locations where Anna should be buried. One is Bahama where Daniel is CURRENTLY buried. Second is Texas where she was born, raised, and her mother, and father CURRENTLY reside in. The other is California where Marine Monro, her idol was buried and where her 5-month old daughter may reside if Larry is a bi logical father of the 5-month old daughter. Two words where brought me to a conclusion to determine where she should be buried is "LOVE" and "FAMILY" since Her mother, Larry, and Howard in the court have strongly said that they have loved/and love her so much and they consider them as family of her. Because they love her so much, they are in court to fight for delivering her WISH where she would have wanted to be buried. Since no one really can prove the WISH, we can be the judge to deliver her WISH. Here are theories for each party to speak out on where Anna should be buried.

FIRST - Howard Stern insists on:

1) Anna should be buried next to Daniel who was most important person in her life.

SECOND - Virgie insists on:

2) Anna should be buried in Texas where she and Daniel were born and raised and where her family(including Virgie, Anna's father, relatives, Daniel's father) love her so much reside.

THIRD - Larry carries his point on:

3) Anna should be buried next to Daniel because she wants to be buried next to Daniel.
4) Anna should be buried in California where her idol, Marilyn Monro was buried.
5) Anna should be buried in California where her 5-month daughter might reside with him if he is a bi logical father of the 5-month daughter.

Again, we should not forget about the words. FIRST is "LOVE" and SECOND is "FAMILY" and THIRD is what or whose life might be most influenced by the location of her burial. For the answer to the THIRD, I don't have an answer for "what" but I do have a strong answer for "whose life" which is the 5-month old daughter, Danniely. Let's list whose life might be the most influential one which we all should consider for Anna's burial.

Question 1: Will Larry's life be influenced by the location of Anna's burial?
Larry is an ex-boyfriend of Anna and potential bilogical father of the 5-month old daughter. Let's assume that Anna is buried in Bahama where Daniel is buried OR Texas. Then, what will influenced his life? The most difficult thing for him would be the same as Vergie. The financial matter would be a problem. He won't be able to visit her as much as he wants. So that can't be a strong factor for the "whose life". BUT it will be a whole different story IF the 5-month old daughter is proven to be his biological daughter and moved back with him to live together in California. If she is his biological daughter and he won the battle of custody over the 5-month old daughter, she will end up living with him. It's very important for a child to live physically close to her/his mother in his or her childhood. Even though the fact that Anna is died, Danniely will always want to visit her mother whenever she wants. When she has hard time in school, fight with her friends, have her first boyfriend, marry someone, she will want to visit her mother's grave. Larry's life will be influenced by Dannielyn's childhood which could be influenced by whether Anna's physical location is close to Dannielyn or not. Larry's life can be affected indirectly by process of Dannielyn's life which is possibly influenced directly by the physical location of her mother and brother graves.

Therefore, the answer is Yes if Dannielyn is proven to be his daughter and they both live together far away from Dannielyn's mother's grave. The answer is No if Danniely is not a biological daughter of him.

Question 2: Will Howard's life be influenced by the location of Anna's burial?

Howard claims himself that he is a lover of Anna Nicole. He claims that the reason he is in court is to deliver Anna's message that she wanted to be buried where Daniel is in, which is Bahama. If so, let's assume that the Court permits Vergie to transfer Daniel to Texas. Does he mind her body to be buried in Texas where Daniel could be buried in Texas? I believe that he wouldn't mind because according to him Anna wanted to be buried where Daniel is buried and there is no point why Anna has to be buried in Bahama if Daniel is buried in Texsa, right?

Therefore, the answer is Yes if Dannielyn is proven to be his daughter and they both live together far away from Dannielyn's mother's grave. The answer is No if Danniely is not a biological daughter of him.

Question 3: Is it Vergie?
Viergie is a biological mother of Anna, grandmother of Daniel and the 5-month old granddaughter. Let's assume that Anna is buried in Bahama where Daniel is buried OR California. Then, what will influence her life? The most difficult thing for her would be she can't visit her daughter and grandson as much as she wants. Even though she wants to visit their graves every day, she might not afford to pay for expensive fight tickets, hospitality, food, etc. I don't see any other factors might influence her life other than than.

Therefore, the answer is NO.

Question 4: Will Howard's life be influenced by the location of Dannielyn's burial?

Danniely is a biological daughter of Anna, sister of Daniel, grandmother of Virgie, potential daughter of Howard and Larry. Let's assume that Anna is buried away from where she will reside in. Then what will influence her life? How much? This might be out of questions. She is only one person out of Larry, Howard, Vergie and whoever can be affected by location of her mother's burial. Depending on where Anna will be buried, Danniely's life could be up or down. She is just 5-month old and her eyes and ears are just open to world and unfortunately she is in the middle of disaster of adults life.

Therefore, the answer is YES.

The person who can get most influenced by location of Anna's burial is the 5-month old baby who doesn't know what's going on her life is Danniely. Danniely's life is depending on who will take custody of her. Perternity test is a key for all the answers. It MUST be performed AS SOON AS POSSIBLE so Anna should be buried close to where Danniely will reside in. Daniel has to be transferred to location of Anna's burial so that all four people, Danniely, Anna, Daniel, Danniely's biological father can be close to each other. That way will bring everybody's satisfaction including Howard because Howard wants to bury Anna next to Daniel. Vergie will accept the fact that her daughter and grand-daugther have to be close to each other even though they live far away from Vergie because her main concern now will be her grand-daugther's further. Larry has to accept the fact that Danniely and Anna have to be close to each other. Now the last question is who has responsible of custody of Danniely? Of course that person is a biological father especially she is just 5-month old. Then what does the court has to perform? Of course paternity test AS SOON AS possible. If Anna is buried in Bahama and later Danniely is proven to be a biological daughter of Larry and Larry took custoday of Danniely, then this might be another disaster for Danniely. Howard will be no longer responsible of graves of Anna and Daniel. He will move back to US and perform his practice leaving two cold bodies behind in Bahama lonely apart from all their families and love ones. In that case Vergie will try to transfer her grandson and daughter back to US to be close to her where is Texas. Do you see where I am going to? PATERNITY TEST MUST BE DONE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY PEOPLE WANT TO MAKE MORE MESS. SIMPLE ANSWER...PATERNITY TEST!

Posted at 6:51PM on Feb 23rd 2007 by Amy Lee

171. ? IF HOWARD WAS HER LAYER FOR 10 YEARS WHY IS ANNA'S LIFE AFTER DEATH SUCH A MESS? NO UPDATED WILL NO ONE TO CLAM HER BODY WHAT IS HE REALLY ALL ABOUT? THE JUDGE IS RIGHT! ALL OF THEM IN THAT COURT ROOM STIIL AS WE SPECK ARE LETTING THAT PRETTY WOMEN LYE THERE IN THAT MORGE SINCE WHEN?
THIS JUDGE DID THE BEST HE COULD WITH ALL OF THEM COULD NOT BRECK HKS. THE JUDGE EVEN SAID WHEN HE WAS SETTING IN THE PARK ONE DAY AND FEEDING THE PEGIONS THAT HE WANTED ANS BESIDE OF DANNY FOR THAT BABY TO GET THE RIGHT SHOT HE CARED MORE THAN ANY BODY IN THAT CORT ROOM SO HE IS THE ONE THAT REALLY IS GIVING THAT BABY A SHOT KEEP IN MIND THIS BABY IS NEXT OF KIN SHE JUST CAN NOT TALK YET I THINK DANNIELYNN WILL THANK THIS JUDGE SOMEDAY FOR THIS AND SHE WILL. HOWARD IS NOT THE FATHER SO FIND THE FATHER ASAP SO THAT LITTLE GRIL CAN HAVE A NICE LIFE AHEAD OF HER. PEOPLE DON'T GET IT BE THAT JUDGE FOR A DAY HE WAS DEALING WITH A LITTLE BABY THAT HAS MONEY TAKE THAT MONEY AWAY AND SEE WHO REALLY CARES NOBODY JUST THE JUDGE

Posted at 1:25PM on Feb 24th 2007 by TAMMI

172. THIS IS TO DANNIELYNN HOPE MARSHALL SMITH

DEAR, DANNIELYNN
YOU SWEET LITTLE CHILD I PREY FOR YOU ALL THE TIME YOU WILL BE OK SWEET BABY. BUT FOR NOW YOU LAY YOUR SWEET FACE ON YOUR PILLOW AT NIGHT AND I WLL SING TO YOU EVER NIGHT

HUSH LITTLE BABY DON'T SAY A WORD GODS GOING BUY YOU A DADDY SOMEDAY AND TAKE THE DEVIL ON HIS WAY AND YOU WILL BELOVED IN GODS SPEACIL WAY

Posted at 1:26PM on Feb 24th 2007 by TAMMI

173. Vergi needs to go back to the pig sty she waddled out of and touch up her roots. She's a fat piece of tater shit.

Posted at 8:50AM on Mar 4th 2007 by Bettie Sprague

174. To: Amy Lee
You poor thing. You are obviously having difficulty in keeping your train of thought on the track!! First of all, you can't spell. Second of all, you obviously don't keep abreast of the LATEST news. Thirdly, your thoughts are all over the place and you don't make much sence.

Let me remind (or enlighten) you. It is EXTREMELY difficult to have a body exhumed and I doubt very much that it will happen in this case. Bodies are exhumed sometimes when there may have been a crime involved. That's about the only time I can think of that I've ever heard of a body being exhumed. Once a body is in the ground, chances are great that it will stay there.

People enable drug addicts every day. That does not mean they killed them if they die.

This baby is the most important player here. We do need an IMMEDIATE paternity test, for sure. Get that part of this mess over with. Only then, can this whole mess move foward and toward some end. RIP Anna.

Posted at 9:16AM on Mar 8th 2007 by Suzan

175. The poor child will be walking down the isle with 10 potential fathers at this point. Lets
"GIT ER DONE"

Posted at 11:51PM on Mar 9th 2007 by CDR

176. I have not been one to watch EVERY SINGLE thing on Anna Nicole Smith But I did watch part of the court stuff and would like to know "since its already been brought up in court "if Anna`s mother and other family members were so horrible to her why would she allow her CHILD Daniel to be raised by her mother" It was brought up that she had raised him most of his life. Who in their right mind would allow this to happen when YOU have supposedly been abused by those people ? Something fishy about that. I can see mothers and daughters squabbles but the accusations of how bad her child hood was just throws things off balance Unless Anna didnt care what happened to her son Knowing he would be abused as she was in that household . Ok Im going to shut up for now but someone help me understand how you could put your child in danger of someone that was so cruel to you" ??? Makes no sence to me Im lost and Like I said I didnt watch ALL of the news on this as I do have a life outside the home as well so please be patient with me thanks Lori in Oregon

Posted at 5:23AM on Mar 30th 2007 by Lori Oregon

177. anna was on drugs because of her mother.that is why no one can help her,she needed a mother,not a cop,a mother with a soft heart.a mother who would help her daughter,tackle teen years a mother taking responsibilty for the child she gave birth to.virgie was planning for that marshall money one long time.it is so sad when anna had to fall for a man that old,anna thought she would find security and a father,i watched ,when anna friend was on the stand in florida,she was crying,and said anna was to call her mother,well the camera showed virgie,with a so what look on her face,any other mother would be crying,not vergie, that ts one cold piece of work,virgie wanted marshall money and when mr stern came into the picture,virgies plan when to hell she and she alone was the cause of anna drug addication.as long as she could put the blame on h stern she felt good,he was going to pay for comming in between her and the marshall money.anna needed a lot of help and her friend the woman doctor failed her.not stern,the one person that could have helped and trained to do so the doctor.

Posted at 7:50PM on May 13th 2007 by BEVERLY LA FRENIERE

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