A legal battle finally comes to an end, after more than a decade, and now Anna Nicole Smith's 6-year-old daughter may be entitled to up to $49 million.

Yesterday, a California judge declared that Anna's daughter, Dannielynn Birkhead, is entitled to sanctions against J. Howard Marshall's family.

The Supreme Court ruled more than a decade ago that Anna Nicole Smith could not receive any of the massive fortune from Marshall, her late husband who was 89 when she was just 26 years old. A year after the marriage, he passed away. He was worth somewhere between $500 million and $1 billion, Us Weekly reports.

The California judge has ordered J. Pierce Marshall, Anna's late husband's son, to pay sanctions over "massive discovery abuse," Forbes reports.

Pierce passed away in 2006. The court accused him of using delaying tactics like sending crucial legal documents to a layer in Louisiana to keep them away from Smith's lawyers.

"Pierce's bad faith conduct was too pervasive and too egregious to be ignored, despite the fact that he has since passed away. It would promote disrespect for the authority of the federal courts to turn a blind eye to actions that so willfully and blatantly attempted to make a mockery of this justice system. Further, it would reward a party for win-at-all-costs tactics, to the deprivation of his opponent. Such behavior cannot be condoned," U.S. District Judge David O. Carter said.

The amount owed to Smith was not specified, but Forbes estimated in March 2012 that it could be up to $49 million.

Smith, a Playboy model, died of a drug overdose in 2007, when she was 39 years old. Her daughter, Dannielynn, will inherit the fortune once it is distributed.