Anna Nicole Smith

No one should confuse the circus that is happening in Florida in the probate matter involving Anna Nicole Smith as a normal proceeding.  True the matter is being heard in a probate court.  But that virtually ends the similiarity to the customary probate hearing.  The matter involves the unfortunate death of a young woman who was a celebrity who actively sought controversy during her life.  That controversy involved her marriage to a much older man  who was worth millions, a celebrated court proceeding that went all the way up to the United States Suporeme Court, posing in mens magazines or just posing in general for the papparazzi, the extensive use of drugs in her family and the birth of a baby with suspected parentage.  When you add to that cocktail a judge who obviously has little or no control over his courtrooma disaster  will happen. 

Probate proceedings are generally conducted in the privacy of a courtroom without any cameras or press present.  The proceedings are dignified and are not paraded infront of the evening news and scandal sheets.

Contested Probate

When a loved one, friend, relative dies, a system must be in place to transfer the decedent's property to the intended beneficiaries in an orderly manner. That system is called probate and its specifics are generally different in each state. In some cases, it is a simple process involving clerks in the probate court who do the majority of the work required by the court rules. When the heirs, beneficiaries or those who believe they should be heirs or beneficiaries disagree, a contested probate litigation usually ensues.

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