The legal battle that started more than ten years ago seems to be drawing to an end as the son of millionaire J. Howard Marshall II, E. Pierce Marshall, died at the age of 67 due to what was called by the family's spokesperson an ' extremely aggressive infection'.

Marshall was Anna's husband's step son and, ever since 1995, continuously challenged her right to part of the oil tycoon's estate. Smith married Howard Marshall in 1994, after having met him in a bar where she stripped, when she was just 26 and he was 87. The marriage lasted only 14 months and it ended with the husband's death.

Anna claimed that her husband had promised her a half of his fortune but his son denied it to her, stating that she was entitled only to the $6 million worth of jewelry that she received during her marriage. On the first court hearings, Smith was declared heiress to a share of the business of $474 million that was reduced afterwards to approximately $89 million and, later on, to zero.

Last month, the US Court Supreme reinstated Smith's claim to her late husband's money but that doesn't mean that she will actually be given any money. Nevertheless, her foe's sudden death does make things a lot easier.