Judge orders paternity test for Anna Nicole's daughter

A Bahamian judge ordered a DNA test Tuesday on Anna Nicole Smith's infant daughter to identify the girl's father, an attorney for the baby's grandmother said, in what could signal an end to a bitter custody feud sparked by the death of the former reality TV star last month.

Larry Birkhead, an ex-boyfriend of the Playboy playmate who asked the judge to order the test on six-month-old Dannielynn, pumped his fists in the air and jumped up and down as he emerged from the private court hearing.

"It's been a good day in court for me," he told reporters.

Asked whether he thought he would be seeing the girl soon, he only smiled and winked.

Deborah Rose, an attorney for Smith's mother Virgie Arthur, confirmed that the judge ordered the test but she and others who attended the hearing declined to describe the proceedings.

Authorities left the building after the hearing and could not immediately be reached for comment.

Smith's most recent companion, Howard K. Stern, who is listed as the father on the girl's birth certificate, left the courthouse in a black sport utility vehicle as Birkhead greeted a crowd of cheering tourists.

Smith, 39, died Feb. 8 after collapsing in a Florida hotel. Authorities have not disclosed the cause.

Stern has been caring for the girl in the gated, waterfront home where he lived with Smith in the months before she died. The Bahamian courts have ordered Stern not to leave the country with the girl before a custody ruling.

Arthur wants to take Dannielynn from Stern, arguing she could provide a more stable home. She did not speak as she exited the courthouse and left in a white limousine.

Birkhead, a Los Angeles photographer, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles in October seeking a court order to demand Smith bring the baby to California for a test. A judge ruled in his favour in December, but efforts by his legal team to secure a DNA sample have not been successful.

The girl, Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern, could inherit millions from the estate of Smith's late husband, Texas oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II. Smith had been fighting his family over his estimated $500 million US fortune since his death in 1995.

Frederic von Anhalt, the husband of Zsa Zsa Gabor, also says he may be Dannielynn's father. Last month, he too filed legal documents seeking a DNA test to determine whether he is the father.