Petar and his brother Matko fought to obtain the Nelipić family holdings, with the former seizing their lands south of the Velebit. Talovac gained fame by defending the southern borders of the kingdom from the Ottoman Turks. His brother's death in 1445 made it difficult for him to hold the land south of the Velebit, but he succeeded in retaining most of it against the ambitions of the regent John Hunyadi, the Republic of Venice, King Thomas of Bosnia and the Bosnian magnate Stjepan Vukčić Kosača.