Friend asks to oversee Cruz’s mom’s estate

Fort Lauderdale – The Lantana woman who took in Nikolas Cruz and his younger brother after their mother died is asking to be named the personal representative of their mother’s estate.

The day after the massacre that killed 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Rocxanne Deschamps filed documents in Broward Circuit Court to administer the estate. The records list the sole heirs as Nikolas Cruz, 19, who confessed to the killings and could face the death penalty, and Zachary Cruz, who will turn 18 on Wednesday.

In her two-page petition, Deschamps says she was a family friend of the boys’ mother, Lynda Cruz, and that she now cares for Zachary.

Lynda Cruz died of pneumonia at age 68 on Nov. 1 at West Boca Medical Center. The court filing says she died without a will.

A judge would have to agree to appoint Deschamps as the estate’s administrator, responsible for helping to discover any assets, pay unsettled debts and distribute money to the heirs.

She does not stand to receive any of the assets herself, but could be paid a reasonable fee — approved by a judge — for her time and effort in sorting out the estate, said probate attorney Frank Walker, of Fort Lauderdale, who is not involved in the matter.

Walker said the filing appeared to be a “prudent thing” for Deschamps to do because she has custody of Zachary and is seeking court oversight to obtain any assets for him.

On Monday, a woman at Deschamp’s Lantana home would not identify herself but said: “I have no comment” and asked a reporter to leave the property. Deschamps’ Boca Raton attorney, Audra Simovitch, did not respond to a phone call.

Property records show Deschamps and Lynda Cruz were neighbors at one time in Parkland, living on the same street.

After their mother’s death in November, both sons stayed in Lantana with Deschamps, but Nikolas left and went to live in Parkland with James and Kimberly Snead, the parents of a schoolmate of his.

Cruz told the Sneads he stood to inherit at least $800,000 from his deceased parents. His father, Roger, died in 2004. Most of the money would come when he turned 22, Nikolas claimed.

The newly opened probate case sheds no light on the value of Lynda Cruz’s estate.

In December 2016, Lynda Cruz reopened the probate file of her late husband, stating that she had a “contract in place to short-sell the property.”

Commonly in such a transaction, the proceeds from the sale do not cover the amount of money owed on the property in mortgage and taxes.

Property records filed in Broward County show the Cruz family’s Parkland home sold in January 2017 for $575,000.