18-month battle for money from brother's estate ends in St. Joseph courtroom

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- A local woman's year-long fight to get the money from her brother's estate finally came to a close today.

$110,538.68 is what Bonnie Kantorowski expected to receive from her brother John's estate. John died in 2017. In 2023, she restored and flipped his $80,000 home, making it a $200,000 home. When the estate house closed in 2025, Kantorowski says she never received her share of the estate from her estate attorney. 

"God is so good. The devil stole this money from me, and God just put it back in my hand today in court."

On September 14, Kantorowski tells ABC57 she received a check with the money she was owed.

Three days later, she says that checked bounced. Kantorowski says it's her job to make sure her brother's children get their share.

"I have an official duty under oath to administer the will to the best of my ability and the money therein, and that has been robbed from me."

For a month, Kantorowski continued to fight to get that money and fulfill her brother's will. In court Thursday morning, Kantorowski says she was prepared to ask Judge Jamie Woods to find her attorney in contempt of court orders and have him arrested for withholding the money she was owed — until he showed up to court with a check.

While she believes she is owed more money, she still went to celebrate today's win with her brother, John.