A Madrid judge has ruled in favor of a Spanish woman to have the remains of surrealist artist Salvador Dali exhumed in a paternity case.

The woman, Maria Pilar Abel Martínez, claims that her mother had an affair with the painter in 1955. Her mother worked in Cadaqués for a family that lived next to Dali.

Dali and his wife, Gala, had no children. He died in 1989 and is buried in his Catalonian hometown of Figueres.

The legal action is against the state of Spain, which was given Dali's estate. The Dali Foundation, which manages the estate, will appeal the case.