Anna Nicole Smith's Mother Fighting for Custody in Bahamas Courtroom  2/14/07

Anna Nicole Smith's mother Virgie Arthur is fighting to remove her five-month-old granddaughter from Howard K Stern's care in a Bahamian courthouse.

Arthur flew to the Bahamas last week (09FEB07) hoping to check on baby Dannielynn in the wake of Smith's death last Thursday (08FEB07).

Stern recently lashed out at Arthur, who was estranged from her daughter at the time of her death, saying, "As long as I have a breath in my body, that woman will not see Dannielynn."

Meanwhile, Arthur has also hired a Florida lawyer to help her get permission to bury her daughter.

A Los Angeles judge ruled Anna Nicole's remains should be preserved until a DNA test next week (20FEB07) proves conclusive, but her estranged mother wants to bury the body as soon as possible.

Attorney Stephen Tunstall has been hired to secure the body, even though there are outstanding California court orders preventing burial.

Debra Opri, the attorney holding up the burial, insists she and her client, Smith's ex-lover Larry Birkhead, have no objections to releasing the body for burial, provided he gets a DNA sample from the corpse first.

Opri fears without the sample of the mother's DNA, Stern, the other 'father'

in an ongoing paternity battle over Smith's baby girl, could switch the child with his own niece.

In an interview last week (09FEB07), Opri said, "We had a concern because Howard K. Stern has a niece who is very similar to Dannielynn.

"We don't want the possibility that there's another baby being tested. We need (the DNA of) the mother, we need (the DNA of) the daughter and we need (the DNA of) Larry Birkhead."

Meanwhile, Dr Joshua Perper, the Broward County, Florida medical examiner currently in charge of Smith's remains, has filed a sworn affidavit suggesting the corpse is buried as soon as possible.

Perper states, "It is very important to promptly release the remains of Vicki Lynn Marshall (Smith's real name) for the purpose of embalming and burial because the death occurred five days ago and any further delay may affect the integrity of the body and its aesthetic appearance following embalming."