Unruh Turner Burke & Frees has secured a major recovery for the Estate of Deborah H. Francis, an elderly Chester County woman whose funds were taken by her longtime tax preparer and close friend, someone she trusted deeply, and then funneled into real estate transactions the Estate spent years unraveling. What began in Chester County Orphans’ Court with findings of fraud, conversion, breach of fiduciary duty, and constructive trust against Patricia Petitti has now ended with a Berks County court voiding an illicit transfer tied to those funds and imposing a $497,000 equitable lien on the Boyertown property traced to the scheme.
The Estate was represented by Unruh Turner Burke & Frees litigators James Dalton and Daniel Yarnall, both former prosecutors, who pursued the case from the initial Chester County ruling through the final Berks County recovery action. In June 2024, Chester County Judge Thomas P. McCabe ruled after trial that Patricia Petitti had received $492,000 from Ms. Francis under false pretenses, used the money for personal purposes, and stood in a fiduciary relationship with Ms. Francis as her longtime accountant and friend.
Judge McCabe also found that Petitti shredded documents relevant to the litigation while the case was pending, and awarded the Estate $5,000 in attorney’s fees and costs resulting from that spoliation. That ruling established the underlying fraud and the Estate’s right to recover the money taken from Ms. Francis.
Unruh Turner Burke & Frees then traced those funds into a series of real estate transactions, including the purchase and improvement of property at 500 E. Philadelphia Avenue in Boyertown. In the Berks County action, Judge James E. Gavin found that Patricia Petitti transferred her equitable interest in that property to Christopher Petitti in January 2022 with actual intent to hinder, delay, or defraud the Estate as a creditor.
The Berks County court voided that transfer under Pennsylvania’s voidable transactions law and imposed an equitable lien of $497,000 on the property, together with specified pre-judgment and post-judgment interest. The court found the funds used to purchase the Boyertown property were traceable back to the money Patricia Petitti owed the Estate.
“This case was about following stolen money and stopping an effort to hide it in real estate,” said James Dalton. “We traced the funds, challenged the transfer, and secured a result that gives the Estate a real path to recovery.”
Daniel Yarnall added, “We approached this like a financial investigation. Once the records were traced, the money trail showed exactly where the funds went and why the transfer could not stand.”
This result closes an especially troubling chapter for the Estate: a case in which an elderly woman was misled by a trusted accountant and friend, her money was diverted for personal use, relevant documents were later shredded, and the proceeds were then traced into real estate the Estate had to fight to reach. The final ruling shows that even when fraud proceeds are moved into property and transferred in an attempt to shield them, Pennsylvania courts can unwind the transfer and preserve a path to recovery.
For more information about Unruh Turner Burke & Frees’ Consumer Fraud and Business Misrepresentation Litigation practice.
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