An emergency hearing in the Anna Nicole Smith paternity case has been scheduled for Wednesday concerning a filing Tuesday afternoon by an attorney representing Smith's ex-boyfriend Larry Birkhead.
Birkhead claims he is the father of Smith's 5-month-old daughter Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern, not Smith's companion Howard K. Stern, whose name is on the baby's birth certificate.
The reason for the hearing, according to the filing, is to require the preservation of Smith's body for DNA paternity testing
Last Friday, a judge refused to order an emergency DNA test on Smith's body requested by Birkhead. The judge did, however, order Smith's body to be preserved until a Feb. 20 hearing.
Smith's mother Virgie Arthur has hired a Florida lawyer to get Smith's body released for burial, TMZ.com is reporting.
Earlier Tuesday, Dr. Joshua Perper, the Broward County medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Smith, told FOX News he wants to release her body to the legal next of kin as soon as possible.
Perper faxed an affidavit to an attorney representing Stern. The attorney was expected to take the affidavit to the Broward Clerk of Courts to get a court order releasing the body to Stern.
Perper will not release the body without a court order because of public interest and the fact that more than one person may attempt to claim the body.
Smith died last Thursday of unexplained causes.
Meanwhile, TMZ.com has obtained a traffic ticket that Birkhead got while Smith was pregnant, and it could be powerful proof that he's the father.
Rewind to April 15, 2006. Sources tell TMZ a pregnant Smith had just gotten into a fight with Stern, who was expressing extreme jealousy over the fact that Birkhead was the father of the baby. Sources say Stern gave Anna an ultimatum -- him or me.
An extremely emotional Smith, who was four months pregnant, called Birkhead and asked him to meet her in the parking lot of the Sportsmen's Lodge in Studio City, Calif., near her house, TMZ reported. A concerned Birkhead jumped in his car and sped over, only to be stopped by a Burbank cop.
The officer who issued the speeding ticket quoted Birkhead -- "I got a call from my pregnant wife, she's sick."
The ticket is significant because Birkhead's statement was a spontaneous reaction to the event and not in the context of a paternity battle.
Debra Opri, Birkhead's lawyer, tells TMZ Birkhead referred to Anna as his "girlfriend" but the cop wrote "wife."
Under Bahamian law, the court would lock up Dannielynn's likely inheritance from Smith's late husband, oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II — as much as $474 million — until she was 18. That would mean the man who is eventually proven to be Dannielynn's father wouldn't be able to touch a cent without a court order.
Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband, Prince Frederic von Anhalt, recently said he had a decade-long affair with Smith and that he too might be the baby's father. Von Anhalt said Monday that he plans to file a paternity challenge in court and wants a DNA test.
Another man, Alex Denk, has also claimed to be Smith’s former lover. Denk was Smith’s bodyguard, who met her when he was cast as the chef on her E! reality show. He claims the two had an intimate relationship for two years.
“She always told me she wanted to have kids with me,” he told the television show "Extra."
As to whether or not there was a possibility he was Dannielynn's father, Denk said, “There’s always a possibility."
The New York Post' and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox