Former PLAYBOY model ANNA NICOLE SMITH has been awarded more than $449 million(£300 million) from the estate of her late billionaire husband J HOWARD MARSHALL.

American Bankruptcy Judge SAMUEL BUFFORD has ruled that the Texan oil baron's youngest son, E PIERCE MARSHALL, had deprived Smith "of her expectancy of an inheritance".

Her lawyer, PHILIP BOESCH JR, says Smith was "very pleased" and believes the ruling "puts the matter to rest." E Pierce Marshall called the ruling a "miscarriage of justice" and says he will appeal.

The judge's decision comes just a day before jury selection was scheduled to end in probate court in Houston, in a separate dispute over the validity of Marshall's will, which left all of the oilman's estate to his youngest son.

Smith testified last year that E Pierce Marshall defrauded her of between $556 million (£380 million) and $820 million (£560 million) she was entitled to as her share of her late husband's estate.

The former model was working as a stripper at a topless bar in Houston when she met Marshall. She was 26 and he was 89 when they were married in 1994. He died in 1995 at age 90, leaving behind a fortune estimated at $1.6 billion (£1.1 billion).

(JM/WNWCAN)

Source: WENN