Home : Anna Nicole Smith : Anna's Mom Lawyers Up

Anna's Mom Lawyers Up

Posted Feb 13th 2007 2:48PM by TMZ Staff

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."

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46. I don't believe Anna's mom wants any of the money or intends to make money off of this situation.
Look who is already making money off of Anna's death! Howard K. Stern already received money for his recent interviews with ET. That says it all right there.
If I was Anna's mom I would claim my daughters' body and bury her and her son back in Texas next to each other. They are from Texas not the Bahama's.
I believe that Larry Birkhead is the father. Why would he make a fool of himself in front of the whole world if he didn't believe he wasn't? DNA Tests don't lie. He believes he is the father because Anna told him so. He also filed for paternity testing before Anna's death. So I believe Larry is not in it for the money. He just wants the truth to come out. If he isn't the father then why would Anna run to the Bahama's? What would there be to hide if Howard is the father? There is a reason why Howard and Anna didn't want to the paternity test! Because they really didn't want any one to know who the real father is. If Howard feels he is truly the father of Dannielynn Hope, then step up and take the test to prove it!
What kind of person would keep a little grandaughter from seeing her grandmother? I find that sickening.
I also believe Anna's anger towards her mother is because of Stern. Before Stern came along Anna's mother raised Anna's son Daniel for a long time. If Anna didn't like her mother, she most definately wouldn't let Daniel be raised by her mother.
I hope this situation ends quickly so that Dannielynn Hope can bond with her real father and grandmother.

Posted at 12:37PM on Feb 17th 2007 by ssmits

47. I am sorry to disagree with the majority of posters here,...but I do not find Anna's mom all that evil. In our family, we have a situation exactly like this [well, almost!]. I have a cousin who is an adult woman and a drug addict. Her parents have tried everything in their power to help her, they have done interventions, mortgaged their house to pay for rehab, etc. My cousin on the other hand, hates them, she trashes them to anyone who will listen. My cousin's choice is to live with her drug dealing boyfriend [who encourages her to remain estrange from her family]. He [the drug dealing boyfriend] pimps her out to friends and basically keeps her held hostage. It is ugly, period.

Please, it would do you all good to stop and think about both sides of this situation before you start tearing down some woman you know nothing about--except what the media chooses for you to know.

I know if my cousin died tomorrow, my aunt and uncle would be there for the body too.....no matter how much she professes to hate them. They will alway love her, she is their child. Just as Anna is Virgie's little girl.

Posted at 4:21PM on Feb 13th 2007 by Shelley

48. Yeah "Teri" and the moon is made of cheese.

Posted at 4:59PM on Feb 13th 2007 by RonnyK

49. No one has yet told why ANS supposedly hated her mother. Why did she leave Daniel in her care for the first 6-7 years of his life? People say he was such a good child. Certainly, that grandmother had something to do with that. If he changed, he changed under his mother's care and through her associations. ANS knew the grandmother loved Daniel. Why did she even bother to call her to let her know Daniel had died? Because somewhere in her mind she knew this was truly someone who loved the boy as she did. Too bad they were not allowed to talk during this time. Maybe this was the the stabilizing force she needed in her grief---the woman who gave birth to her, fed her and clothed her the best she could, the woman who bandaged her cut fingers as a child, took her to her first day of school--and whom she trusted to care for her own son until SHE could take him. We don't KNOW the facts---only the ramblings of a young woman ---possibly brainwashed and driving too fast on a road with too steep cliffs. If the Mother eventually gets money, then good for her. Whatever happened toANS, the mother didn't kill her.

Posted at 6:21PM on Feb 13th 2007 by A. Scott

50. My prauers are with the Vergie, mom and grandmother, of the late Vicky Lynn Hogan Smith & Daniel.

I support and applaud Vergie and her family for her obvious love, concern, and justified involvment in her daughter's & grandson's VERY QUESTIONABLE , SUDDEN, EARLY DEATHS WHERE HOWARD STERN WAS IN THE PICTURE.

Vergie, is not only a concerned, loving mother that did her best , but is also a seasoned 28 year heteran of a sheriff's dpt.

Vergie is A knowledgible, credible, rightfully concerned woman , parent, & grandmother.

I pray that she succeeds in her search for truth & justice in these deaths and PRIMARILY that she is able ( and gets all the possible hep she can) to SAVE HER BABY GRANDUAGHTER from any sudden death, and a loveless, parentless life, and just a thing used for money!

GOOD LUCK VERGIE. GOD SPEED BE WITH YOU AND YOUR FAMILY. YOU ARE IN MY PRAYERS!

Posted at 4:34PM on Feb 13th 2007 by Kathy

51. I DO BELEIVE THAT THE BABY IS LARRYS IF U LOOK AT THE LITTLE ONE AND SEEHER FACE YOU CAN SEE SHE LOOKS JUST LIKE HER REAL DAD LARRY WHAT A RESEMBLANCE WITH THE TWO . DADDY AND DAUGHTER.

Posted at 9:57AM on Feb 15th 2007 by rose

52. It is a sad situation. A mother does not want to see her children die before she does. But, any mother would do what Virgie is doing, money or no money. She has more right to have a say in what happens to Anna's body then Howard Stern does. He manipulated Anna and turned her against her family. Sure, she said she hated her mother. She was on drugs. You don't think or act right on drugs. Howard probably didn't get help for her because he knew if she was thinking clearly, she'd get rid of his ass. He's dangerous and I'm afraid for the baby to be with him. How many people does he have to kill before he is arrested?

Posted at 4:49PM on Feb 13th 2007 by Doris

53. We could only hope she ends up where her skanky daughter is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And someone please take Howie out!

Posted at 5:09PM on Feb 13th 2007 by Rob Dumont

54. Deputy Sheriffs aren't usually smart, don't very often make good decisions and are jerks with big egos most of the time. Daniel was a big boy, if he loved this grandmother that "raised" him why didn't he have contact with her? He loved his mother very much. His mother loved him. Neither of them love Virgie. She may be the mother here but Anna hated her.
No one deserves this baby.....they are all sick. Jerkheads lawyer is trying to make a name for herself too. What a sad situation. No one deserves the baby or Anna or Daniel.

Posted at 7:24PM on Feb 13th 2007 by Truthwilltell

55. The woman is dead.......God Bless Her...

Posted at 4:49PM on Feb 13th 2007 by luluhale

56. I'll bet Anna's mom would have taken her to a hospital when her fever reached 105 rather than leaving her in a Casino Hotel room. I guess she didn't want the publicity... sad irony. What was everyone thinking?

Posted at 4:47PM on Feb 13th 2007 by Duh

57. This woman is amazing! She hasn't tried to see that baby for the last 5 months and has done nothing but slam her daughter to the media, and NOW she's boohooing all over the place? She and Larry Birkhead both need go away. Their 15 minutes has long since passed and I'm sick of the two of them.

Posted at 4:50PM on Feb 13th 2007 by NMurphy

58. wow...her mother wants to bury her and she's a bitch? Meanwhile Howie K....has that baby....hoping for a pay-day. Figure it out people...that baby needs to be away from him. He was there when both Daniel and the twit OD'd.

Posted at 5:16PM on Feb 13th 2007 by Larry T

59. Howard is not guilty of anything i fyou ask me.................

Anna is grown women who stepped over anyone is any relationship she had, thus most people who had a relationship with her, run off or did not end well

Those who are willing to be stepped on and cater to her every wish are the ones who remain with her, and tus HKS and Marshall...........She just never learned to treat people right and it may have been the result of her upbringing but it was a personality trait, I guess you cant both be beautiful and good..the Rose had thorns

Her mother, form what I heard on TV the other day does not deserve to be anyones mother, maybe a result o editing, but I dont trust her ..she wants the money

They all want the money, but if youa sk Howard earned it , by stickign with her all these years and being treated like a MOSQUITO..evident in the reality show


Anna life was tragic, beautiful , problems each second of the day...loss of a child and leaving one behind...........didnt think someone of her emotional consitution could survive the loss of a child..........too bad she didnt die before Danny. so she would have been spared that particular heartbreak

Posted at 5:46PM on Feb 13th 2007 by miapocca

60. I THINK SHE SHOULD STAY OUT OF THIS ANNA COULD NOT STAND HER MOTHER AND IF SHE WAS ANY KIND OF MOM SHE WOULD RESPECT ANNA SO GO BACK HOMKE LADY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted at 5:14PM on Feb 13th 2007 by Angel

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