💍⚖️💰 A MARRIAGE THAT TURNED INTO A 16-YEAR LEGAL BATTLE
In 1994, actress and model Anna Nicole Smith, aged 26, married Texas oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II, who was 89 years old at the time.
Their marriage lasted only about 14 months before Marshall died in August 1995.
But it was after his death that a major legal battle began.
In his will, Anna Nicole was not named as a beneficiary of his estate. His son, E. Pierce Marshall, was the main beneficiary of the inheritance.
Anna Nicole claimed that her husband had promised to give her a substantial portion of his wealth, including an alleged promise of nearly half of his estate.
What followed was a lengthy legal battle that went through Texas probate courts as well as federal bankruptcy courts.
At one stage of the case, a bankruptcy court awarded Anna Nicole more than $400 million. However, that ruling was later overturned or rejected by other courts.
Eventually, the dispute reached the U.S. Supreme Court twice.
In 2006, the Supreme Court considered whether federal courts could hear Anna Nicole’s claims while the inheritance case was still being litigated in Texas.
Later, in 2011, the Supreme Court issued its ruling in Stern v. Marshall, holding that the bankruptcy court lacked constitutional authority to enter a final judgment on part of the claim. The earlier $400 million award was set aside.
The ruling brought an end to the long-running legal battle over Marshall’s estate.
Sadly, Anna Nicole Smith died in 2007, four years before the Supreme Court issued its final ruling in 2011.
What initially looked like a celebrity love story later became part of one of the most famous inheritance disputes in American legal history.
The marriage lasted 14 months, but the inheritance battle lasted nearly 16 years.
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