Model's estate won't get fortune (From Crewe Guardian)

Model's estate won't get fortune

4:13am Saturday 20th March 2010 in Cinema © Press Association 2011

Anna Nicole Smith's estate will receive none of the £200 million she claimed her late billionaire husband had promised her, a US federal appeals court has ruled.

The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals is the latest stop in the 15-year legal battle over the £1 billion estate that oil magnate J Howard Marshall left after his 1995 death aged 90.

Smith had married Marshall the previous year and argued he meant to leave her £200 million. She died in 2007.

A Texas state court ruled against Smith and in favour of Marshall's son, who argued the model should receive nothing.

A bankruptcy court in Los Angeles later awarded her £315 million. A trial court later reduced that to £59 million.

Lawyers for the son's estate say they hope the litigation is at an end with Friday`s ruling.