I was going up the elevator in the New York Hilton at a bar association dinner Thursday night, and I saw on the mini TV screen in the car the news of Anna Nicole Smith’s death. While most will be thinking about the parallels to Marilyn Monroe, others in the legal community will be thinking of the twisted bar exam question this has become (AP Wire article). Things still pending include the J. Howard Marshall II estate resulting from the ultimate May-December relationship. Both contestants to the estate, Marshall’s son and Anna Nicole, are no longer alive, leaving an unknown number of heirs of Marshall’s son, Anna Nicole’s long time lawyer and questionably married companion Howard K. Stern, a 5 month old daughter that have three possible dads, and a choice of Texas, California, Florida, or the Bahamas for residency.
Before becoming an oil tycoon, Marshall was an assistant dean of Yale Law School and apparently taught trusts and estates. I wonder if this was what he was thinking of?