Attorneys reply in Smith appeal case

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Feb. 27 (UPI) -- The guardian for Anna Nicole Smith's baby filed papers with a Florida appeals court, asking it to uphold a ruling giving him custody of Smith's body.

Richard Milstein asked the court to uphold a lower court ruling that gave him the body in his role as the court-appointed guardian to 5-month-old Dannielynn, TMZ.com said.

Attorneys for Howard K. Stern also filed with the Florida's 4th Circuit Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach, Fla., answering the appeal filed by Smith's estranged mother, Virgie Arthur, to block burial in the Bahamas.

Broward County Judge Larry Seidlin ruled Thursday that custody of Anna's remains should go to the child for burial. Her guardian decided Smith would be buried in the Bahamas next to her son, Daniel, who died in September.

Arthur asked Seidlin to set aside his ruling; he refused and she appealed. Arthur said she wants custody of the body to bury it in Smith's home state of Texas.

Stern, Arthur and Larry Birkhead, one of Smith's former lovers, also are involved in a custody hearing in the Bahamas.