James E. Petts

James Petts’s practice is in the fields of Chancery and commercial, with a particular focus on contentious matters involving especial forensic rigour, either in terms of the law or facts, including claims involving an element of fraud or where there are serious disputes of primary fact (e.g. relating to undue influence or disputed oral agreements).

James’s interest in claims involving a significant element of fraud or dishonesty come from the first three years of his practice at the Bar in which he practised in criminal law, before going on to develop a successful Chancery and commercial practice. James is the (civil) education secretary to the Fraud Lawyers’ Association and contributes to Westlaw Topics on fraud related subjects.

Inheritance, Probate & Wills

James is frequently instructed in contentious probate claims and disputes regarding the administration of estates or trusts, including disputes and possession claims regarding the occupation of estate property by beneficiaries or alleged beneficiaries or their tenants and claims involving allegations of fraud and/or undue influence.

Recent cases

• Advising in a contentious probate claim featuring video wills made during the pandemic.
• Acting for the claimant in a contentious probate claim arising out of the alleged want of testamentary capacity of the deceased.
• Acting for the defendant in a contentious probate claim intimated against the estate of a deceased for revocation of the grant of probate arising out of alleged want of testamentary capacity and undue influence, and an intimated claim against the estate in proprietary estoppel relating to an alleged promise to give the intimated claimant a particular share of the estate in return for sharing the responsibility of caring for the deceased.
• Acting for the claimant in a long-running claim against a serial fraudster and vexatious litigant arising out of the attempted take-over of a house that had been left to the claimant by a deceased neighbour in his will, in which a gang had broken into the house, let it out to tenants then forged tenancy agreements, a will and multiple trust instruments.
• Acting for the claimant in a contentious probate claim arising out of undue influence said by the claimant to have been exerted by the defendant while the defendant was caring for the deceased when the latter was suffering from terminal cancer, during which time the deceased changed her will to give the defendant a life interest in her property, changing the pattern of her previous testamentary dispositions.
• Acting for the claimants in a contentious probate claim, defended by the defendant on the basis of lack of testamentary capacity and want of knowledge and approval, and in which a possession order was obtained against the deceased’s widow who had occupied estate property for over 10 years after the deceased’s death.
• Acting for the defendant in a contentious probate claim, heard over 5 days, involving a dispute as to the authenticity of a will, want of knowledge and approval of two competing wills and alleged duress and undue influence.
• Advising the young adult children of a deceased person who was murdered abroad by her husband (who committed suicide before he was tried, having raised insanity as a defence) as to the administration of the estate comprising, inter alia, the property in which they reside.
• Advising a local authority and settling pre-action correspondence in a case involving the recovery of outstanding care home fees against a solicitor executrix who distributed the estate without paying those fees.Acting for the claimant in obtaining a freezing order and subsequently a default judgment against an agent in an art transaction who fraudulently misrepresented her authority to sell a sculpture worth >£1m by a notable sculptor. The defendant was subsequently convicted and imprisoned for fraud arising out of these facts.