NASSAU, Bahamas — A Bahamian lawyer for Anna Nicole Smith’s estate said yesterday he will support giving full custody of the Playboy Playmate’s baby daughter to the girl’s father, Larry Birkhead.Attorney Wayne Munroe said Smith’s companion and the executor of her will, Howard K. Stern, instructed him to resist any custody claim made by Smith’s mother, Virgie Arthur, who was estranged from her daughter at the time the reality TV star collapsed and died in February in Florida.

The new legal strategy makes allies of Birkhead and Stern, who feuded over paternity until a DNA test revealed Tuesday that Birkhead is the father of the girl, Dannielynn.

“It has the effect of making my enemy my friend in this case,” Munroe told The Associated Press.

During a hearing Friday a judge is expected to discuss who will raise seven-month-old Dannielynn. Stern, who has been caring for the baby since Smith’s death, said he will not try to stop Birkhead from taking the baby to California.

Arthur has not abandoned her quest for custody. Her lawyer indicated yesterday that she might seek joint custody of the girl she initially wanted to take home to Texas.

Arthur, who met Dannielynn for the first time after Smith’s death, would have difficulty winning even partial custody because of her estrangement from her daughter, according to Joshua Forman, a family law attorney in New York.

Still, Birkhead may want to reach a visitation agreement with Arthur to discourage her from pursuing further legal action in US or Bahamian courts, said William Hilton, a California-based lawyer who specialises in international custody disputes.

“If I were the dad here, I would probably negotiate with the grandparent and get some contact time,” Hilton said from his office in Santa Clara, California.

“It seems to me they’re in a position where the grandparent, Stern and the natural father could all get together and work out an arrangement. I suspect if they did that ... that might satisfy the Bahamian court.”

Birkhead, a 34-year-old photographer, visited Dannielynn several hours after the announcement of the DNA test results Tuesday, feeding her apple sauce with some coaching from Stern, “Entertainment Tonight” reported. The two men have discussed a possible transition period during which each would spend time with the baby, according to Stern’s lawyers.

Birkhead said yesterday he did not want another legal fight.

“We might go from one fight to another, but I’m hoping that’s not the case because, you know, there’s only one dad, and I have no problem with anyone that has good intentions being allowed to visit the baby and see the baby and be a part of the baby’s life,” he told NBC’s “Today” show from the Bahamas.

Munroe, the attorney for Smith’s estate in the Bahamas, said the proof of Birkhead’s paternity should end the custody dispute.

“My understanding of the law is that parents have control over their children,” said Munroe, who also represents Smith’s interests in continuing litigation over ownership of the oceanfront home where she lived with Stern.