Law Firms Launch National Push on Foreign Asset Protection Trusts

Blake Harris Law and Verdon Law Group have launched a national public-information campaign to defend the lawful use of foreign asset protection trusts and challenge what they call misleading case summaries. Former White House Special Counsel Lanny J. Davis will lead the effort as the firms seek to steer families and advisers toward accurate trust-law analysis.

Why it matters: - Families use foreign asset protection trusts as part of advance estate and asset-protection planning when they want to protect assets for spouses, children and future generations. - The campaign aims to separate lawful planning from schemes tied to existing creditors, judgments, court orders or reporting violations. - The firms say inaccurate case summaries can distort how attorneys and families understand offshore-trust law.

What happened: - Blake Harris Law and Verdon Law Group announced a national public-information campaign focused on the lawful use of foreign asset protection trusts. - The firms retained Washington, D.C., attorney and former White House Special Counsel Lanny J. Davis to lead the effort. - The announcement said the campaign will seek to correct the public record where offshore trusts have been inaccurately portrayed. - The firms said the effort is meant to give prospective clients and advisers documented information about legitimate asset-protection planning.

The details: - Foreign asset protection trusts are established outside the United States, commonly in jurisdictions such as the Cook Islands. - The campaign says properly formed, timely funded and independently administered trusts should not be confused with late transfers, retained control, misconduct, fraudulent conveyances or violations of court orders. - Blake Harris Law and Verdon Law Group cited a chart by Nevada estate-planning attorney Steve Oshins titled “45 FAPT Cases Gone Wrong.” - Their analysis says some entries in that chart did not involve foreign trusts. - Their analysis also says none of the cited cases showed the failure, on the merits, of a properly structured offshore trust. - The firms said the chart counted the same bankruptcy matter twice, listing In re Brooks and Sattin v. Brooks as separate failures even though they involved the same underlying case. - After Harris asked for a correction, Oshins said he had removed the chart from prior postings. - Blake Harris Law is also asking for review of Oshins’s Leimberg Information Services Asset Protection Planning Newsletter #450, which lists 29 purportedly failed foreign asset protection trust cases. - The firms want any inaccurate, duplicative or unrelated entries in that newsletter or related materials corrected. - Blake Harris Law says its case-by-case analysis, source citations and supporting materials are available at TheFactsAboutOffshoreTrusts.com. - The social media link included in the release points to Blake Harris Law on LinkedIn.

Between the lines: - Davis framed the campaign as a response to what he called broad mischaracterizations of foreign asset protection trusts. - The push appears aimed at lawyers, families and advisers who rely on secondary summaries rather than reviewing underlying court records. - The firms are trying to shift the debate from headlines about failed trusts to the specific facts behind each cited case.

What's next: - The firms sent a letter asking Oshins to review the remaining publication and correct any inaccuracies. - The campaign will continue to promote what the firms describe as documented and lawful family asset planning. - Families and advisers are expected to be directed to the firms’ published case analysis and source materials for further review.

The bottom line: - Blake Harris Law and Verdon Law Group are mounting a public counteroffensive to argue that lawful foreign asset protection trusts are being unfairly lumped in with bad-faith or improperly structured cases.