Richard W. Petty

Richard W. Petty guides clients through trust, estate and property tax litigation, helping them resolve high-stakes disputes involving complex commercial businesses and substantial real estate holdings in the United States and abroad. Based in Los Angeles and San Francisco, he is an experienced trial attorney who litigates at both the trial and appellate levels, and he represents real property owners, banks, lenders, airlines, charities, churches, nonprofit organizations and Indian Tribes.

Richard's practice has a particular emphasis on the overlap among trust litigation, property tax litigation and real estate litigation. He handles disputes involving partnerships, limited liability companies, fraudulent conveyances, title insurance and various tort claims, allowing clients to address both the fiduciary and property dimensions of a dispute in a single, coordinated strategy. He also has vast experience in a variety of tax matters, having begun his career focusing on tax controversy at the state and local levels.

His work on behalf of trusts and estates spans probate courts, civil courts, appellate courts, assessment appeals boards and bankruptcy courts, giving clients an advocate comfortable in each forum where these disputes unfold. For charities, churches and nonprofit organizations, he brings the same courtroom approach to litigation affecting their missions and assets. In especially sensitive matters, he has represented the families of murder victims in probate litigation over the appointment of the executor of the victim's estate and the disinheritance of the slayer.

Richard also has experience representing Indian Tribes and their members in all aspects of litigation, with a particular emphasis on Indian Child Welfare Act proceedings and other child custody matters. This breadth of courtroom experience across fiduciary, real estate, tax and Tribal matters allows him to guide clients through difficult disputes with both rigor and sensitivity.