Just over a year since Anna Nicole Smith’s death, her 18-month-old daughter Dannielynn has been declared the sole heir to the former model’s estate, a Los Angeles judge has decided.

The toddler could conceivably inherit millions from the fortune of Smith’s late husband, oil man J. Howard Marshall, whose estate is still tied up in litigation in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Meanwhile, the judge has established a trust in Dannielynn’s name with her father (and guardian) Larry Birkhead acting as co-trustee with Smith’s former companion Howard K. Stern, who, until a paternity test proved otherwise, insisted he was Danielynn’s father.

In court papers filed in Los Angeles Superior Court Oct. 18, 2007, Howard K. Stern, executor of Smith’s estate, sought to clarify the late reality star’s intentions in her July 2001 will, drafted five years before Dannielynn Hope’s September 2006 birth.

“We and Mr. Stern always believed that Anna Nicole never intended to disinherit her daughter,”‘ Stern’s lawyer, Bruce S. Ross, said after Tuesday’s hearing. “I’m pleased to say this chapter in the saga is closed.”

In addition to confirming Dannielynn Hope as Anna Nicole’s sole heir, Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff’s ruling also establishes a trust on her behalf with Stern and Birkhead as its co-trustees, Ross said.

Tuesday’s ruling was first reported by TMZ.com.

Source