This program will cover, in a countdown from ten to one, what the speaker has identified as the ten most significant developments of 2019 that affect estate planning and related tax issues. It will include discussion of both the context that makes the developments significant and the potential effects on estate planning and our professions.

Ronald D. Aucutt is a Senior Fiduciary Counsel with Bessemer Trust Company, N.A. Before joining Bessemer in April 2019, Ron practiced law with Miller & Chevalier Chartered in Washington, D.C., for 23 years and with McGuireWoods LLP in the Washington suburb of Tysons, Virginia, for 20 years. Ron’s career with those law firms focused on planning and controversy matters involving the estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes, the income taxation of trusts and estates, and the rules regarding tax-exempt organizations and charitable contributions. He advised lawyers and other professionals on tax planning and controversy issues and was experienced in resolving tax issues through rulings from the Internal Revenue Service’s National Office. He contributed to the formation of tax policy through legislation and Treasury regulations. He served on the Internal Revenue Service Advisory Council in 2014 through 2016 and chaired its OPR Subgroup (working with the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility) in 2015 and 2016. In 2015 through 2018 he served as the Reporter for the Uniform Fiduciary Income and Principal Act, which was approved by the Uniform Law Commission in July 2018.

Ron is a Fellow and former President (2003-2004) of The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, an academician of The International Academy of Estate and Trust Law and former member of its Council (2000-2004), a former Vice Chair (Committee Operations) of the American Bar Association’s Section of Taxation (1998-2000), a Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel and the American Bar Foundation, and a member of the Christian Legal Society. He is also a member of the Advisory Committee of the Philip E. Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning, the Advisory Board of the Florida Tax Institute, and the Bloomberg BNA Estates, Gifts and Trusts Advisory Board.

Ron was awarded the 1995-1996 Estate Planner of the Year Award by the Washington, D.C. Estate Planning Council; was recognized as one of Washington, D.C.'s 31 "Best Lawyers" in the December 2011 issue of the Washingtonian; holds Chambers USA's "Band 1" ranking for Wealth Management; and in 2009 was elected to the National Association of Estate Planners and Councils Estate Planning Hall of Fame with the designation of Distinguished Accredited Estate Planner.

Ron received a B.A. degree in 1967 and a J.D. degree in 1975, both from the University of Minnesota. He was in the Navy from 1970 to 1973, served in the Gulf of Tonkin during the Vietnam War, and achieved the rank of Lieutenant.

Ron lives in Lakewood Ranch, Florida, with his wife, Nancy Schmidt Roush, an estate planning lawyer. He has two sons, David and Jamie, a daughter-in-law Evelyn (David’s wife), and a grandson Brayden.

One Education Credit for CLE (PA Only), Insurance (PA Only), CFP, CPA (PA Only), PACE and CTFA will be offered.

This meeting is being sponsored by