Dannielynn Hope, the 18-month baby of Anna Nicole Smith and Larry Birkhead, has been named sole heir of her late mother’s estate, after a Los Angeles court approved Howard Stern’s petition to clarify Smith’s will.

Howard K. Stern, Anna Nicole Smith’s former lawyer and boyfriend and current executor of her estate, filed court papers in Superior Court on Oct. 18, 2007, seeking to clarify Smith’s will.

The former model had drafted a will in July 2001, five years before daughter Dannielynn Hope was born, on Sept. 7, 2006. Smith died in February 2007, without having changed her will, which named son Daniel as sole heir of the estate.

Daniel died a few days after Dannielynn’s birth, apparently from an accidental drug overdose. The will filed in probate court also said that the assets in Daniel’s trust should be divided equally among any siblings if Smith had other children, E! Online reports.

“We and Mr. Stern always believed that Anna Nicole never intended to disinherit her daughter,” Stern's lawyer, Bruce S. Ross, said after Tuesday’s hearing. “I'm pleased to say this chapter in the saga is closed.”

L.A. Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff also ruled Tuesday that a trust be established on Dannielynn’s behalf; Birkhead, whose paternity was determined through a DNA test after Smith’s death, and Stern, have been named co-trustees.

Little Dannielynn could inherit millions should the lengthy legal battle between Smith and her late husband’s estate end favorably for her.

Anna Nicole Smith was 26 when she married billionaire oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II in 1994. He died little over a year later, leaving most of his fortune to his widow. His family has never accepted the will.

Smith died Feb. 8, 2007, of an accidental prescription drug overdose in Hollywood, Florida. She was only 39.

Tuesday’s ruling was first reported by TMZ.com.