O'Reilly Law Firm
Where Family Law is the only Law
When your family life is in crisis you need a law firm that has the legal knowledge, the life experiences and the empathy to be able to guide you through one of the most difficult situations you will ever face.
That is the O'Reilly Law Firm.
20 West Market Street
United States Supreme Court
Leesburg Court House
Bernadette Rush O'Reilly focuses in the area of family law. Ms. O'Reilly has handled family law matters in almost every kind of situation.
Ms. O'Reilly's philosophy is straightforward:
The questions of separation, divorce, property division, spousal and child support are hard for the parties personally and not easy legally. However, the most difficult and important issue is the custody of the children. We apply our legal and, more importantly, our real life experiences, to the most stressful issue people will ever have to face or resolve.
Ms. O'Reilly's undergraduate degree in Finance from the University of Virginia is crucial to the resolution of complex financial issues, now so common in the division of marital property. To protect our clients interests, one must understand the value of retirement funds both defined contribution plans and defined benefit plans, employee stock incentive plans, vested and unvested stock options, small business valuation methodologies and tax ramifications intrinsic to the hi-tech community in which we practice.
Todays economic downturn has changed the way all of us must think about the dissolution of a marriage. In some situations there just isnt enough money to run two separate households. The resolution of marital property issues can be complicated from a financial perspective, but these issues are compounded when emotions are added. Presenting an objective view of the economic realities of family law is imperative, particularly when these realities result in a drastically changed lifestyle. Today those challenges have been magnified for families in crisis.
Ms. O'Reilly is a graduate of the George Mason School of Law and resides in Leesburg, Virginia.
Certification/Specialties:
Certified Guardian ad litem
Bar Admissions:
Virginia, 1993
Pennsylvania, 1998
Maryland, 1999
U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit, 1993
Education:
George Mason University School of Law, Arlington, Virginia, 1993
J.D.Honors: Moot Court Competition Finalist
University of Virginia, McIntyre School of Commerce, Charlottesville, Virgina, 1984
B.S. Major: Finance & MIS
At the O'Reilly Law Firm, Family Law is the only law.
Please select the area of your needs from the menu to the left to get a better understanding of what we can do for you.
Divorce can be one of the most painful and stressful events you and your family may ever experience during your lifetime. Many times clients will come into our offices saying that the divorce will be uncontested. Unfortunately that is usually not the case in the long run.
At the O'Reilly Law Firm, we can help you focus on the important battles in the divorce process. It doesn't make sense to have attorneys involved in how you are going to divide up the three family televisions. We will try and urge you and your spouse to negotiate these items. What we cannot control, of course, is how your spouse is going to act and proceed during this process. So some of the direction of the divorce is dictated by the opposing party and the advice they are getting.
We will aggressively represent you whether in the Court room or in negotiations with your spouses attorney. We will not add fuel to the fire because we truly believe that aggressive representation and incivility do not go hand in hand.
Particularly if you have minor children, you may be getting a divorce, but you will be dealing with the other parent of your child(ren) for the rest of your life, and we believe remembering the upcoming weddings and graduations is important today while you are getting divorced. You are not divorcing your children.
A divorce itself is granted by the Circuit Court and you must meet residency requirements to apply for a divorce in a particular County. The Circuit Court must also have jurisdiction over the people involved in the divorce matter, and the Courts must be able to serve legal documents to your spouse in order to start the divorce process. A divorce can be granted on fault grounds but the majority of divorces today are granted on people living apart for the required amount of time. The Courts must receive evidence that the married parties have indeed lived separate and apart.
We are able to answer the many questions you will have about this complicated process. More importantly, we will be able to guide you from the beginning of the process to the end of the process. Quite frequently, the direction of a divorce will change, and with our experience we are able to quickly change direction to either quickly settle the dispute or to prepare for lengthy litigation. At the O'Reilly Law Firm we know how to listen to you so the agenda that is being pushed forward is yours, not the attorneys.
Certainly of all the areas of the law that evokes the most emotion and heartache it is Custody and therefore by definition Visitation. Ideally the people who are the experts regarding the needs of the children involved in the case should be the ones deciding the issues of custody and visitation. Those experts are the parents. We have to advise all of our clients that all decisions regarding a child's custody or visitation should be guided by the best interests of the child. In a perfect world the child's parents would make these decisions and resolve the disputes between them in a manner that would cause the least amount of harm to all the family members involved.
Sadly, custody and visitation is where the most contentious Court cases originate. Disputes over custody and visitation can turn a relatively easy divorce matter into a lengthy, costly Court battle. We will ask you to authorize the O'Reilly Law Firm to negotiate a satisfactory custody or visitation arrangement. You will receive from the Court when the initial Complaint for Divorce is filed or a Petition for Custody is filed in Juvenile and Domestic Relations General District Court an Order which will require you to participate in an educational session designed to help you understand and appreciate your responsibilities and the likely effects of separation or divorce on your child.
At the O'Reilly Law Firm, we have litigated custody cases before both the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court and the Circuit Court. If your case involves two different states familiarity with the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act will be necessary to get you into the most convenient forum and keeping the custody issues before that Court.
Clients who are preparing to litigate child custody or visitation cases will be given ample homework to do in preparation of their Court date. Experience in the Court room teaches you how to present the necessary evidence to the Court. Life experience teaches you how to prepare your clients to testify in a Court room when they are nervous, don't understand everything that is going on, but know that the most important person(s) in their life, their son or daughter's life will be affected by how well they testify.
We know that a successful client is a prepared client.
The issue of Spousal Support is not a straightforward topic to address. When spousal support is sought along with child support and the distribution of property, the Court must determine these issues in the proper sequence. The distribution of property is determined first, then spousal support and finally child support.
Spousal support may be granted by the Court when the Court enters an Order dissolving a marriage, but not when the Court enters an Order annulling a void marriage. However, the Court may enter an Order of support providing for “separate maintenance” when the parties are living apart. Finally, the Court may enter an Order for support if the parties have entered into an agreement concerning spousal support and that agreement is filed before entry of a Final Order of Divorce.
Spousal support can be granted before your case gets to the final hearing or “pending the litigation” in what is called a pendente lite hearing. This is generally a brief hearing where the Court will hear the issues of custody and support and will make a temporary award of support.
The Code of Virginia sets out several factors for the Court to consider when determining spousal support including, but not limited to: the financial needs and resources of each party; the length of the marriage; the age of the parties and if there is any special circumstances in the family; if there is a special circumstance with one of the parties’ children which would make it inappropriate for one of the parties to work outside the home; the contributions of each party to the family; the property of each party; the earning capacity of each party; the education of each party; the opportunity for a party to obtain additional skills or education; the contributions of one party the other party’s career or profession; and the time and reason one party has been absent from the work force.
The very first days and weeks after the decision to separate is made are definitely the hardest. You need to have someone advising you of what your next step needs to be. You need someone with the practical experience in the Court room advising you and with life experiences advising so you know where to spend you emotional energy and where to spend your legal dollars. At the O’Reilly Law Firm we have both practical and real life experience to help you.
The Commonwealth of Virginia is quite clear about a parent's obligation for Child Support. The duty to support a child is owed by both parents. The Commonwealth tells us that this duty applies to parents by birth and parents by adoption. It applies to parents who are unmarried as well as to parents who are married.
A child has the right to receive support from both parents until the age of eighteen, or past the childs eighteenth birthday when they are a full-time high school student, not self-supporting, and living in the home of the parent receiving the child support payments until they reach the age of nineteen or graduate from high school whichever comes first. The Court may order child support to continue past these timeframe for any child who is severely and permanently mentally or physically disabled; is unable to live independently and support himself or herself; and resides in the home of the parent receiving the child support.
The Commonwealth of Virginia established child support guidelines in response to requirements of the federal Child Support Enforcement Amendment of 1984. The guidelines are a mathematical calculation that produces a presumptively correct amount of support to be paid to the primary caretaker of the minor child(ren). The guidelines essentially combine the gross monthly incomes of both parents, take into account the number of children, the cost of day care that is work related, (if any), and the cost of medical insurance for the minor children only and gives you a number that is presumed to be correct.
Either party can try to convince the Court that the guideline calculation is either too high or too low, but the burden of proving this falls to the party who wishes to rebut the presumptive amount.
There is a different guideline calculation done when the parents share physical custody of the minor children. The Shared Custody Guideline calculation is used when the non-custodial parent has the minor child(ren) for more than ninety days during the calendar year. However the definition of what constitutes a day would take a bit of an explanation.
We at the O'Reilly Law Firm believe that the minor children involved in the dissolution of marriages are entitled to receive the maximum amount of child support. The Guidelines are incredibly out of date for what amount of money it takes to care for a child for one month. Good representation in the area of child support is making sure that the payor parents gross income is accurately represented and when appropriate argument for rebutting the guideline calculations are presented to the Court.
Under the heading of Marital Agreements we are really talking about many things: Property Settlement Agreements; Property, Custody, and Support Agreements; and finally Marital Agreements. The easiest way to explain these Agreements is by saying that two people can agree to end the marriage and the terms by which they will dissolve their obligations they had while married will be spelled out in an Agreement.
The Property Settlement Agreements and Property, Custody, and Support Agreements are negotiated, agreed to and signed after the parties have been separated, and usually are living in separate homes. The Marital Agreement is an agreement reached between the parties while the parties are still living together AND do not have grounds to seek a divorce or to state that they have been living separate and apart.
The content of these Agreements will of course vary depending on your circumstances. Obviously, if you have minor children, the Agreement will address custody, visitation and child support. Whether or not the Agreement contains provisions for spousal support depends on the agreement that you and your spouse have reached on that particular issue.
All the property that was accumulated during the marriage must be addressed in the Agreement. This can sometimes be very difficult. Particularly in our current economic times the disposition of the marital home is causing many couples great difficulty. Five years ago it was rather easy because we were just dividing up the net equity in the marital home. For people today who have no equity left in their homes you have to be more creative with your solutions.
Ms. O'Reilly's undergraduate work in finance lends itself to today's difficult choices in dealing with the home that is now a negative asset. Whether the decision is a short sale, a structured buyout by one of the parties or a voluntary abandonment of the property, the O'Reilly Law Firm will be able to help you understand the positive and the negative aspects of each decision and remove from you the emotion that is tied to a family home so a clearer understanding will be available to you.
Second or third marriages later in life are the norm today. This should be a happy and stress-free time in your life. Perhaps the two of you are not coming into this marriage with the same amount of assets and you both want to protect what you currently own for your children from a previous marriage. The time to think about this is before the wedding day and hopefully the two of you have discussed this with each other and are in agreement.
What you need to be thinking of is rather simple: yours, mine and will there be an ours. Simply put, once you are married, the Commonwealth of Virginia states that any property acquired after the date of marriage and prior to the date of separation is marital property. So should this marriage not work out, a home purchased during the marriage would have some portion of it being classified as marital, unless you specifically stated in a Prenuptial Agreement that it was not your intent that this happen.
Another example, by statute a spouse is entitled to inherit property from their spouse upon that spouses death. If both of you want all of your currently owned property to belong to your children this has to be addressed. What will happen with property purchased after you are married?
At The OReilly Law Firm we can certainly help you with all of these questions. It really isnt quite as complicated as it might sound. You just need to know what you want to happen should the marriage you are planning end in divorce or should one of you predecease the other while you are still married. And certainly there are ways to make these agreements very specific to your particular needs and your particular marriage.
Adoptions are one of the areas of the law where everyone is generally smiling at the end of the day. That makes it a very rare and special type of law. Children may be placed for adoption by a licensed child-placing agency; a local board; the child's parent or legal guardian or an agency outside the Commonwealth that is also licensed or otherwise authorized to place children for adoption by virtue of the laws under which it operates.
The O'Reilly Law Firm has experience with agency adoptions, parental placement adoptions, stepparent adoptions, close relative adoptions and adult adoptions. We have tried to make the day that the Final Order of Adoption is entered special for the family, particularly if the new family member has older siblings. We strive to make sure that this very special time in a family's life takes on the celebratory status that it should have and if our clients have wanted to we have arranged for time with the Judge before the general sessions start so that cameras are ready and all in the family partake in family day.
The Juvenile and Domestic Relations General District Court may take a child into immediate custody and place a child into emergency shelter care after the Court has issued an Emergency Removal Order where the Department of Family Services, upon an affidavit, has alleged that the child has been abused or neglected. The term Abuse and Neglect means that the child would be subjected to imminent threat to life or health so severe that an irreversible injury would be likely to result if the child were returned to the custody of his caretakers.
This measure is considered so serious that in all cases the caretakers (parents) will receive court appointed counsel. The minor child always is appointed a guardian ad litem to prepare an independent investigation and to report to the Court her findings from her investigation and to make a recommendation to the Court as to what the guardian believes is in the best interest of the minor child.
Abuse and neglect cases have a “five day hearing”; adjudication and a disposition hearing. These hearings can be very difficult for the parents, the children, the foster care parents, the social workers, and even the attorneys. Sometimes the medical evidence is long and difficult to understand and the time to prepare is very short, particularly if you are a parent accused of the abuse.
The O’Reilly Law Firm has participated in abuse and neglect case on behalf of the minor children, as the guardian ad litem, on behalf of the parent charged with abuse, and on behalf of the parent charged with neglect. Often when one parent has abused a child and the other parent has not acted quickly in an effort to prot4ect a child, they are charged with neglect.
Regardless, the O’Reilly Law Firm has years of experienced in this troubling area of the law. Never is this area of the law taken lightly. It requires considerable work and preparation. Abuse and neglect cases require at times a willingness to be able to research medical conditions and to understand how to cross examine the Department of Family Services expert witness. The O’Reilly Law Firm has done this on many occasions. One has to understand, for example, that when dealing with cross examination of shaken baby syndrome, it is necessary to examine whether or not the physicians excluded and tested for all of the conditions that make up the “syndrome.” When you are charged with civil and criminal abuse you need an attorney who understands how to research the medical issues in your case.
Estate Planning is more than just deciding who to leave the painting over the sofa in the living room that everyone loves. Estate planning is making those decisions but it is also signing a Durable Power of Attorney so that if you become incapacitated someone can write checks for you while you can’t use a pen. It is also signing a Durable Power of Attorney for Advanced Medical Directives. The Advanced Medical Directives designates someone to make medical decisions for you if you are unable to do for yourself. This document can also outline the major decision in advance for that person.
Estate Planning can set up a Trust if in this economy you are lucky enough to have assets that would require a trust. Within the trust you can designate how and when the trust funds are distributed to the beneficiaries and for what uses, for example, for college tuition for your grandchildren or the purchase of their first home.
Estate Planning can be very simple, “leaving everything to your children divided equally” or very complex. But the key phrase is “planning” and that includes planning your medical care, who is going to write your checks, balance your check book, sell your house, decide it is time for a nursing home. The O’Reilly Law Firm can help you plan for all of this and make things easier for that person that you want to remember you for more than just the painting over the sofa.
Estate Planning is more than just deciding who to leave the painting over the sofa in the living room that everyone loves. Estate planning is making those decisions but it is also signing a Durable Power of Attorney so that if you become incapacitated someone can write checks for you while you cant use a pen. It is also signing a Durable Power of Attorney for Advanced Medical Directives. The Advanced Medical Directives designates someone to make medical decisions for you if you are unable to do for yourself. This document can also outline the major decision in advance for that person.
Estate Planning can be very simple, leaving everything to your children divided equally or very complex. But the key phrase is planning and that includes planning your medical care, who is going to write your checks, balance your check book, sell your house, decide it is time for a nursing home. The OReilly Law Firm can help you plan for all of this and make things easier for that person that you want to remember you for more than just the painting over the sofa.
Elder law will be a new area of the law for the O’Reilly Law Firm. We will counsel and prepare for you or your parents the documents necessary for Medicaid. We will be adding a questionnaire to our web page in the near future.
We, like many of you, have had to learn the Medicaid process because of aging parents. We also realize that for many of us and our parents the only “insurance” plan for long-term institutional care is Medicaid. Approximately 2% of skilled nursing care in our country is paid for by Medicare. Our own private insurance pays for even less. The very sad result is that most long-term care is paid for by nursing home residents’ children or by residents’ savings until the residents of the facilities become eligible for Medicaid. This is an entitlement program we are talking about -- a form of welfare – that is how it began. So in order for you or your parents to become eligible, you or they must become “impoverished” under the program’s guidelines.
The average cost of a nursing home in rural Virginia can be as little as $4,000 per month. And around us, in Northern Virginia the cost is closer to $8,000 per month.
The time to start thinking about long-term care, if you cannot afford to pay for it privately or pay for long-term care insurance, is now. You need to start thinking about your assets. Your parents may not be able to do this themselves later so you need to discuss asset allocation now and get the proper documents in place for planning purposes. We will be able to help.
Persons under the age of majority, eighteen, when they come into contact with the judicial system require special handling. These young people whether charged with a crime, truancy or if they have been removed from the home because of their behavior have been deemed to be a danger to themselves or to others. Sometimes they need to be handled very gently because they are truly scared. More frequently, they are on the verge of behaviors that could scar them for the rest of their lives. They need to be treated differently and they need to have someone with the experience both in the Court room and in life who can tell the difference between a one time mistake and someone who needs to understand that the world does not tolerate certain behaviors.
Juvenile Law matters are all handled in the Juvenile and Domestic Relations General District Court. Juveniles can be taken into custody and placed into shelter care or the detention center. The Court also has petitions for Children in need of services and Children in need of supervision which will allow the Courts and the juvenile probation system to set up controls for a minor child without that child having committed and being found guilty of a crime.
At the O’Reilly Law Firm we are familiar with the Courts and have worked many years as a certified guardian ad litem. A guardian ad litem is assigned by the Courts to represent minor children in abuse and neglect cases, in Children in need of services and Children in need of supervision cases and in extremely contested custody cases. A guardian obligation is to do an independent investigation into the case and make a report and recommendation to the Court regarding the case. With both private practice experience in juvenile and the experience garnered as a guardian ad litem we are equipped to help you and your family through a very difficult period in your life.
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Bernadette Rush O'Reilly Managing Attorney
bor_oreilly-law.com
Suite E
Leesburg, Virginia 20176
(703) 771-6084
(703) 771-6085 (FAX)
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The O'Reilly Law Firm is located in the heart of the legal district of Loudoun County in downtown Leesburg.
The O'Reilly Law Firm has lots of questions so you better get your pencil ready, after you download these files.
Download:
Family Law
Questionnaire
Custody
(Available Soon)
Domestic Relations Questionnaire
Estate Planning Questionnaire
Medicaid/Medicare Application Questionnaire
Tel: 1 (703) 771-6084
Email: bor_oreilly-law.com
