Bahamas burial back on track for Anna Nicole

MIAMI, Mar 1 (Reuters) A US court rejected a bid by the estranged mother of dead Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith to halt her burial in the Bahamas, clearing the way for an end to a battle over the decomposing body.

The Fourth District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach, Florida, turned down Virgie Arthur's request yesterday to overturn a lower court ruling that gave custody of Smith's body to a court-appointed guardian of her 5-month-old daughter.

The decision appeared to end three weeks of legal wrangling over the corpse of the former topless dancer and billionaire's widow, who died suddenly at age 39 on February. 8 at a Florida casino hotel.

A funeral has been scheduled in the Bahamas for tomorrow.

Arthur had wanted to bury her daughter in their native Texas, even though the two had been estranged for a decade.

The West Palm Beach ruling followed one earlier in the day from a court in Fort Lauderdale, which rejected a bid by a former boyfriend, Larry Birkhead, to have a Florida court decide a paternity fight over Smith's daughter, Dannielynn.

Broward County Judge Lawrence Korda tossed the case back to California, where Birkhead first filed a paternity action.

''They have jurisdiction for a number of reasons, apparently the act of conception being what the petition requires in terms of jurisdiction for California,'' Korda said.

He did grant Birkhead the right to get a DNA sample from Smith's body.

Howard K Stern, Smith's longtime companion, is listed as Dannielynn's father on the birth certificate. He has insisted that Smith be buried in Nassau's Lake View cemetery, alongside the unmarked grave where her 20-year-old son Daniel is buried.

He died at Doctors' Hospital in Nassau in September, just days after Smith gave birth to Dannielynn.

Broward Medical Examiner Joshua Perper said yesterday he still did not know what killed Smith. Toxicology reports were not expected back for another 10 days or so, Perper told the WSVN television station.

Smith's estate could ultimately be worth millions if it wins a legal battle over the estate of her late husband, billionaire oil tycoon J Howard Marshall.

Smith's body remains at a medical examiner's office in Dania Beach, Florida. Authorities there could not be reached for comment on plans for removal of the body and its transportation to the Bahamas.

REUTERS PB RK0859