Dannielynn is Now a Birkhead; Birth Certificate Issued Giving Child a New Last Name

Dannielynn is on the right track to bonding with her father, Larry Birkhead. She now shares the same last name with him.

According to TMZ.com, Larry Birkhead filed for a amended birth certificate for his daughter, Dannielynn, and was granted the change.

By law, a person can only change the parental information on a birth certificate by providing legal proof of paternity or signing a sworn statement claiming paternity. For each situation, there is a process that must be dealt with in order to make the change.

For Larry Birkhead's case, he was able to remove Howard K. Stern from the certificate (who was listed as the father) and place his name as well as change the last name of the child. The only required document for that to take place was the paternity document naming Larry Birkhead as the father.

In a previous interview, Larry Birkhead said that he has no intentions on changing Dannielynn's full name since that is what her mother, Anna Nicole Smith, wanted the child to be named. His only request would be to change her last name to his and remove Howard K. Stern as the father.

Howard K. Stern, the longtime friend and companion of Anna Nicole Smith - who was also listed on Dannielynn's original birth certificate as her father, has made it very clear that he only wants the best for Dannielynn and that Anna would want the same as well. He has not tried to fight the process of Larry Birkhead achieving custody of Dannielynn. In fact, Howard K. Stern even patted Larry on the back during this morning's (Friday April 27, 2007) court hearing when Virgie Arthur's appeal was denied.

Virgie Arthur is now seeking legal joint custody of Dannielynn which would give her visitation rights as well as name her the guardian if Larry Birkhead died while Dannielynn was still a minor.

Now that Dannielynn is officially Dannielynn Hope-Marshall Birkhead, maybe some closure is finally in view for the only surviving child of Anna Nicole Smith.

Source: TMZ.com, Google, Wikipedia.org