Anna Nicole Smith`s daughter may inherit $49m

New York: Anna Nicole Smith`s 6-year-old daughter, Dannielynn, could amass a multi-million dollar fortune in sanctions from the estate of E. Pierce Marshall - son of the actress` former husband J. Howard Marshall.

Years ago, the Supreme Court had ordered that Smith`s estate was not entitled to J. Howard`s fortune, however, a federal judge ruled this week that the former Playboy Playmate`s daughter could win almost 49 million dollars, the New York Post reported. According to Forbes, US District Judge David O. Carter has ordered Marshall`s estate to pay sanctions over "massive discovery abuse" in E. Pierce`s legal battle against Smith. The decision was made by the judge based on the allegations that Marshall`s estate attorneys used delaying tactics such as shipping crucial legal documents to a lawyer in Lake Charles, Louisiana, to try and keep them away from Smith`s lawyers. The legal battle has been going for more than 10 years with Smith`s estate attempting to recover hundreds of millions of dollars from the huge estate of her husband - estimated to be between 500 million to 1 billion dollars. J Howard expired in 1995, at the age of 90, but made no mention of Smith in his will. ANI