In court: Who will bury Anna Nicole Smith?

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (CNN) -- Anna Nicole Smith wanted to be buried in the Bahamas, next to her son, and bought a burial plot there, according to attorneys for her longtime companion, Howard K. Stern.

Smith's estranged mother, Vergie Arthur, wants to take the body home to Texas to be buried with family members.

The two sides faced off in Broward County Circuit Court on Thursday at a probate hearing that bounced from custody of the body to DNA sampling to whether a baby can be considered next of kin under Florida law. (Watch the contentious hearing played out before the cameras )

With several attorneys arguing loudly around a conference table, Judge Larry Seidlin tried to sort through a tangle of legal arguments and competing interests.

Sitting around the table or on the phone were lawyers representing Smith, Stern, and Smith's former lover Larry Birkhead. Also at the table were Smith's mother and her attorneys.

The lawyers sniped at the opposing parties, and at each other.

"The woman sitting across from me was estranged from her daughter. I have people who loved her," sniffed Krista Barth, attorney for Stern. "She stands here today to take her to Texas and put her in the ground all alone. It's sad and it's sick."

Retorted Arthur's lawyer, Stephen Tunstall: "Counsel is trying to trash my client in some kind of emotional appeal. My client is her mother. She wants to take her back to Texas to be buried with the rest of the family. She has the right."

And so it went, all day long and, from the looks of things, for many more days to come. The judge worked hard to keep things on track.

"We're trying to balance the rights and respect of the body with the legal issues," Seidlin said.

Some progress was made: The judge appointed a guardian, Miami attorney Richard Milstein, to protect the interests of Smith's infant daughter, Dannielynn. He also appointed an administrator, Shane Kelley, a Fort Lauderdale lawyer, to sort through the competing interests and recommend who will bury Smith, and where.

An evidentiary hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.

Smith's body is being kept under refrigeration at the medical examiner's office in Dania Beach. She is likely to be embalmed there as early as Friday. But any decision about releasing her body for burial isn't likely until next week at the earliest.

Who's the father?

Birkhead and Stern each claim to be the father of Smith's nearly 6-month-old daughter, Dannielynn. Stern's name is on the birth certificate.

Smith attorney Ron Rale, meanwhile, told CNN's "Larry King Live" Thursday: "Larry, I would like to reveal it on your show. Another little tidbit. I think everybody will see that Howard Stern is not a beneficiary of that will."

Smith's former bodyguard, Alexander Denk, said on the same show that he, too, could be Dannielynn's father, saying he and Smith had an off-and-on relationship for years.

Denk is the fourth person to claim he could be the child's father. Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband, Frederic von Anhalt, has said he and Smith had a decade-long affair and that he could have fathered the child.

Seidlin repeated several times that the most important issue to his court was the welfare of the baby. He also stressed the importance of maintaining dignity.

"We want to preserve the beauty and model figure of Ms. Smith," he said. "Beauty was important to her, as you all have indicated to me, and we want her to look beautiful when she is placed in her final resting place."

Smith, 39, died February 8 after she was found unconscious in her room at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino near Hollywood, Florida.

Among the issues the attorneys wrangled over was whether Stern had legal standing to determine a burial place, or even to take part in the proceedings; and who was Smith's next-of-kin under Florida law.

Tunstall, the attorney for Smith's mother, argued that Dannielynn did not qualify because a child must be over 18 to be legally considered next-of-kin. (Watch CNN's Jeff Toobin try to untangle the legal mess )

Dannielynn was in the Bahamas on Thursday with Stern, attorney Barth said. A restraining order keeps the child from leaving the Bahamas, and Stern is with her, she said.

The Associated Press reported that police on Thursday entered the oceanfront home that Smith and Stern shared. (Full story)

Judge OKs additional DNA sample

One of the most contentious issues before the judge was the collection of DNA from Smith's body to help establish paternity, and to reinforce that Smith is the mother.

Birkhead's attorneys were seeking an additional DNA sample for use in a California paternity suit that began before Smith's death.

Broward County Medical Examiner Joshua Perper performed Smith's autopsy with his associate, and about six medical specialists, including a toxicologist, were present when three DNA samples were collected, Perper said.

Perper went into detail, after an attorney for Birkhead pressed him about the integrity of the chain of evidence. Karen Haas wanted to know what had been done to prevent tampering.

She wanted more blood taken right away -- with at least one attorney present. After nearly three hours of discussion, Seidlin authorized Perper to take a DNA swab from inside Smith's cheek, but allowed no attorneys to be present.

Perper assured Haas that the samples are locked in a refrigerator, and only one doctor has a key. When asked, he said he had no problem allowing a DNA expert to review the samples.

The medical examiner said his office also collected from Smith several vials of blood, a piece of bone with bone marrow inside, and hair samples.

"We did an extremely vast array of tests. There is no reason to keep the body at the time," he said. "We have taken all the sampling necessary."

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