Aside from the obvious lessons about how not to administer an estate (don't take estate assets that don't belong to you), we like the decision in In re Kurzon, because it appears that justice was served and a personal representative was not permitted to use the legal system to escape it.

In Kurzon, 399 B.R. 274 (Bankr.M.D.Fla. April 17, 2008), a Florida judge held that the former personal representative may not have a probate judgment against him discharged in bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy does not discharge an individual from any debt "for fraud or defalcation while acting in a fiduciary capacity, embezzlement or larceny," noted the court. And this is one personal representative who very clearly committed fraud.

Not A Model Fiduciary

Doris Daddario died in 2003 in Orlando, Fla. Her will designated her nephew, James Kurzon, as personal representative of her estate in the event that her husband did not survive her. He did not.

James was to receive Doris' Orlando home, all tools, a 1978 Lincoln Mark V, a 1981 Mercury station wagon, a Snapper tractor, and Doris' husband's jewelry. At the time that James was appointed personal representative of Doris' estate in 2003, the estate's value was at least $74,000, not including the residence.

The will also provided that Doris' niece, Pamela Cabana, was to receive all of the money in Doris' various accounts, certain items of jewelry, furs, clothes, furniture and home accessories.

It was unclear from the decision whether Pamela and James were brother and sister or simply first cousins. Either way, what happened next was sad.

James didn't exactly live up to Doris' expectations. He filed an initial inventory in May of 2004 (sworn under oath, of course) containing numerous material misstatements, including the omission and undervaluing of assets. He went on to commingle the estate's assets with his personal assets. He used estate assets to pay his personal expenses.

In December of 2005, James filed a final account that had no supporting documentation; it also contained material misstatements and omissions. Pamela objected, and after what appears to be almost two years of legal wrangling, the probate court sustained her objections in May of 2006.

The third time was not a charm for James. He soon filed an amended accounting that continued to omit assets and make material misstatements, though he did at least cop to the fact that $10,000 of the estate's assets were what he called "loans" and "advances" to himself (which he never repaid).

He also disclosed for the first time the existence of a 1993 Nissan truck, listing it as a distribution to himself and audaciously stating, "James Kurzon desires it be conveyed to him as part of his personal representative commission."

James continued to withdraw estate assets even after filing the amended accounting.