After taking the long weekend off, the legal hearings into the fate of the body of Anna Nicole Smith began in earnest on Tuesday. Lawyers for both Howard K. Stern, the former partner of Anna Nicole Smith, and Virgie Arthur, Anna Nicole's mother, sparred over just who will decide the final resting place for Smith, though the hearing produced little in the way of results.

On the fourth day of hearings into legal arguments as to who has the right to bury Anna Nicole Smith, Florida Circuit Judge Larry Seidlin heard testimony from Smith's boyfriend, Howard K. Stern, to try to determine if the lawyer/boyfriend of Anna Nicole Smith has the right to take Smith's body back to the Bahamas to bury her next to her son, Daniel, who died last year in Nassau.

Reuters quoted the testimony of Howard K. Stern, where he recalled the burial of Daniel Smith in the Bahamas. "She wanted to go down with Daniel right then," testified Stern. "She wanted to crawl inside that space where he was." ABC News also covered the legal hearing, and quoted Stern as he discussed the relationship between Anna Nicole Smith and her son Daniel Smith. "Anna and Daniel were inseparable. Daniel was without question the most important person in Anna's life. "From the day that Daniel died, Anna honestly was never the same. I mean, I would say that physically she died last week, but in a lot of ways, emotionally, she died when Daniel died."

In front of fourteen different attorneys, Howard Stern told the court that Anna Nicole Smith was, "my best friend, my lover, the mother of my daughter, everything to me, literally my whole world." Howard Stern testified that Anna Nicole Smith, "always thought she was going to die young," in her late 30s, and that Smith hoped to be buried next to her idol, Marilyn Monroe, in California.

As the battle over the final resting place drag on, Judge Seidlin received an unexpected call from Broward County Medical Examiner Joshua Perper on Tuesday, where Dr. Perper informed Judge Seidlin that the body of Anna Nicole Smith was decomposing more rapidly than expected, and that it may soon become unsuitable for a family viewing during a funeral. Dr. Perper told the judge, "The viewing should be done this week, Saturday or before. If it's next week, then I'm not sure." Judge Seidlin told the court that Anna Nicole Smith "cared about her beauty," and that he hoped to have the legal decision on the burial by the end of this week.

Virgie Arthur, the mother of Anna Nicole Smith, also took to the stand on Tuesday, testifying about how Anna Nicole's drug use had soured their relationship over the years. Reuters quoted Arthur, who told the court that Anna Nicole Smith, "was on Valium. She liked downers. She didn't like uppers.. While the battle over the body of Anna Nicole Smith dragged on, a California court refused to give up its legal jurisdiction on determining the paternity of Anna Nicole Smith's daughter, Dannielynn. Superior Court Judge Robert A. Schnider declined to relinquish over the paternity case, but has suggested that there are other issues in need of resolve before the courts can determine who has jurisdiction over ordering a paternity test.

Larry Birkhead, a former lover of Anna Nicole Smith's, has been seeking a DNA test of Dannielynn as he claims to be the baby's father. Howard K. Stern is listed as the father on Dannielynn's birth certificate, but has not surrendered Dannielynn for DNA testing. As well, Prince Frederic von Anhalt, the husband of Zsa Zsa Gabor, has claimed he was involved in a decade-long affair with Anna Nicole Smith, and that he may have sired the child. Von Anhalt has filed legal papers seeking a DNA test to determine if he is the father. As well, Alexander Denk, a former bodyguard of Anna Nicole Smith, claims he also had an affair with Anna Nicole Smith, and that it is possible he is the father.