Long ago, drafters of foreign assets protection trusts (FAPT) realized that courts might hold grantors in contempt because they wouldn’t repatriate assets from a foreign jurisdiction into the U.S. To prevent this outcome, drafters included a “duress clause” in a FAPT document. This clause states that should a court threaten a U.S. grantor with contempt, he will not only be stripped of any power to control the trust, but will also lose all trust benefits.  This should allow the US grantor to argue that compliance with the repatriation order is impossible. The Anderson case, which I discussed in my last post, dealt a serious blow to this strategy. Lawrence v. Goldberg – the topic of this post – adds another nail in the “duress clause” coffin. Read More