Mr. Maxwell was in court to ask for more time to produce documents relating to the disappearance of pension fund money. He is under a British court order to give this evidence -- which he must now provide by Monday -- and his worldwide assets, up to a total of $810 million, have been frozen. He was obliged to surrender his passport on Friday.

More than $720 million disappeared from Maxwell company pension funds this year in what now looks like a desperate attempt to shore up the Maxwell empire, which faced debts of at least $4.4 billion.

Interviews with dozens of officials close to Robert Maxwell suggest that while his highly personal and erratic style meant that nobody knew everything of his myriad dealings, his youngest son came the closest. If his older son, Ian, who is 35, showed a creative flair for newspapers, it was Kevin who showed the firmest overall grasp of the more than 400 companies in the Maxwell empire.

"Kevin was clearly Mr. Maxwell's heir," said Jean-Pierre Anselmini, who quit two months ago as deputy chairman of Maxwell Communication, in which the Maxwell family controls 68 percent of the stock. "They were very close. Kevin dealt with the banks and knew just about everything that was going on." 'Always the Number Guy'

Jean Baddely, who was Robert Maxwell's personal assistant for 25 years, said: "Ian has more of his father's flamboyance and flair. But Kevin has the strength in adversity and was always the numbers guy."

In one of the unusual deals after Robert Maxwell's death, Swiss Volksbank provided a $35 million loan to the Robert Maxwell Group, said Daniel Mollet, an official at the bank in Bern. Kevin Maxwell is a director the Maxwell Group, and its properties include The Daily News.

The loan was only granted after Volksbank received collateral in the form of shares in Berlitz Inc., Mr. Mollet said. The bank was assured in writing that the Berlitz shares were not part of the 56 percent stake in the language-instruction company that Maxwell Communication had agreed on Nov. 7 to sell to the Fukutake Publishing Company of Japan. At the time, Kevin Maxwell was chairman of Maxwell Communication.