Mary P. O’Reilly

Mary P. O’Reilly

Partner, Meltzer Lippe

Mary P. O’Reilly’s expertise and influence span multiple practice groups at Meltzer Lippe. A partner and co-chair of the law firm’s trusts and estates group, she is also a partner in the business and real estate taxation group, private wealth and taxation group, trust and estate litigation group, mental health, guardianship and elder law litigation group and tax exempt organizations practice group.

The first woman to be named equity partner at the firm, O’Reilly is a counselor and trusted advisor to some of the nation’s wealthiest families in all aspects of family, finance and business interests regarding tax planning and business succession. She manages, counsels and mentors a team of 25 attorneys and 15 paralegals in the firm’s Manhattan, Mineola and Boca Raton, Fla offices. She helped establish the latter office in 2021.

Along with colleague David Bamdad, O’Reilly has made two cases of first impression, setting new precedents in trusts and estates law in New York. A case of first impression refers to a case in which the judge must make a decision about a question of law that had not been previously addressed by any court in the state.

In one matter, the attorneys created new case law in New York, expanding safe harbor protection for no-contest clauses to revocable trusts. In the other, the New York County Surrogate’s Court found that the distribution (“decanting”) of a $10 million life insurance policy from one trust to another trust, which eliminated certain beneficiaries of the original trust, was a? valid exercise of the trustee’s discretionary power to distribute principal under the trust instrument.

 

This profile is part of LIBN's Influencers: Dynamic Women Leaders list . Information used in this profile was sourced from the honoree.

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