A Broward County, Fla., judge Wednesday conducted emergency hearings on who should receive Anna Nicole Smith's body for burial.
Judge Larry Seidlin heard an emergency motion filed by attorneys representing Smith's companion, Howard K. Stern, asking that Smith's body be released to him, the Miami Herald said. Another hearing is scheduled Thursday morning.
Among supporting documents filed by Stern's Florida attorney, Krista Barth, were television show interview transcripts demonstrating that Smith wanted to be buried beside her late son, Daniel, in a family plot in the Bahamas.
The attorney representing Smith's estranged mother, Vergie Arthur, was expected to file a counter motion. Arthur wants her daughter buried in Smith's native Texas.
The Broward County, Fla., medical examiner's office earlier said it would not release Smith's body without a court order.
"We are at a standstill," said Edwina Johnson, chief investigator for the County Medical Examiner's Office.
Smith died Feb. 8 in a Hollywood, Fla., hospital after being found unresponsive in her hotel room. A preliminary autopsy was inconclusive about the cause of death.