Christopher Roy Penty
Allegation / charges
Agreed Statement of Facts | Summary
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
Christopher Roy Penty, a BC lawyer called in 1983, prepared a dying client's will naming himself as beneficiary of three-quarters of the estate while he was President and director of a charity he also made a beneficiary. He failed to advise the client to obtain independent legal advice, drafted the will to exempt himself from trustee obligations, concealed his beneficiary status from the deceased's brothers (the intestate successors), filed false and incomplete affidavits and submission for estate grant with the court, and used estate funds (which were to go to charity) for personal purposes. He admitted four allegations all constituting professional misconduct. The tribunal did not make an express finding of dishonesty. He was permitted to resign effective September 28, 2017 and undertook not to seek reinstatement for seven years (until September 28, 2024). No fine or costs were stated.
Duties found breached:
- Not mislead the court
- No improper communication with the court
- No conflict between current clients
- Handle inadvertently received material
- No improper benefit, loan or bequest
- No improper use of client money
Aggravating factors:
- Experienced practitioner (called 1983) practising in wills and estates
- Made false statements in affidavits sworn to the court and never corrected them
- Used estate funds for personal purposes including personal loan payments, cash withdrawals, travel insurance and shareholder loans
- Failed to disclose his interest in the Hospice Foundation and concealed his beneficiary status from the deceased's brothers
Mitigating factors:
- Entered into an Agreed Statement of Facts and admitted the misconduct
- Gave undertakings restricting his practice (trust supervision, practice supervision, ceasing wills and estates work)
- Reimbursed the improperly withdrawn funds and placed estate funds in trust with a law firm
- Stated it remained his intention to donate the residual funds to charities