Estate battles of the stars
Exposition: Elderly Texas billionaire J. Howard Marshall met Smith in the Houston strip club where she worked. The two were wed in 1994 – Marshall was 89, Smith 26. Marshall died the next year, but in his will, he left his entire estate to his son, E.Pierce Marshall. Smith went on to star in an eponymous TV reality show. It was eponymous, but rarely hip.
Flap: Smith challenged the will in probate court, claiming E.Pierce Marshall illegally coerced his father to exclude her from sharing the estate. The former Playboy model alleged that the elder Marshall promised to leave her more than $300 million. In late 2000, a bankruptcy court awarded Smith $475 million. That was reduced to $90 million in 2002 by a federal district court judge. But in between those two decisions, a jury in the Houston probate court ruled in March 2001 against Smith.
Outcome: Smith died of a drug overdose in 2008. In the latest development in a fifteen-year battle, a federal appeals court on March 19 concurred with an earlier jury decision found that the late Texas billionaire was mentally fit and under no pressure when he signed off on the will leaving $1.6 billion to his son. That decision could be bad news for the late Smith's ex-boyfriend. The daughter he had with Smith is the heir to Smith's estate. The boyfriend's lawyers plans to appeal the Federal ruling in March. [The Associated Press contributed to this item Photo by Bloomberg]