Heather W. Forshey

Attorney Heather Williams Forshey has operated Raleigh Divorce Law Firm since May 2010. She has a B.A. in Psychology from Elon University and received her law degree from Wake Forest University. She has been a Board-Certified Family Law Specialist since 2013, and also holds certifications as a family financial mediator and a parenting coordinator.

She was recognized as a North Carolina Super Lawyers Rising Star from 2014-2020 and since 2021 has been recognized as a Super Lawyer. She also holds an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale Hubbell, the highest level of peer rating for professional excellence for legal knowledge, communication skills and ethical standards.

Heather has exclusively practiced North Carolina family law since 2006. In that time, she has earned a reputation for providing knowledgeable, highly skilled legal counsel to clients contemplating divorce or struggling with a variety of family law issues. Her firm only handles divorce, domestic issues, adoptions, appeals of family law issues, and related matters. She is an experienced litigator and has focused her family law practice on the area of child custody and modifications of child custody. She prides herself on tailoring her representation and advice to the unique needs of each case. While the majority of Heather's practice is in Wake County, Heather’s firm also handles cases in Durham, Orange, Franklin, and Harnett counties. 

Heather has written manuscripts for and spoken frequently at continuing legal education courses on a variety of family law topics. Recent presentations include “Custody Evaluations: Understanding the Tools and Challenging the Report;” “Advanced Custody and Support Issues-Negotiating and Drafting Parenting Plans;” “Legal Ethics;” “Alienation and Abuse Allegations in Custody Proceedings;” and a national webcast “Parental Alienation and Abuse (Plus Relocation) in Divorce Litigation.”

Heather is also a gifted writer and has written pieces for Attorney at Law magazine on the Gabby Petito murder, the Depp-Heard trial, and the Murdaugh case.

Heather is passionate about the prevention of child abuse and family violence. She became a Guardian ad Litem in 2000 in Alamance County, and worked in family services for the Head Start program before attending law school, where she developed a passion for helping families in crisis that has continued to this day. She continued these efforts with a public interest grant to serve the GAL programs of Lee, Harnett and Johnston Counties during law school. In private practice, she handles some pro bono appellate work for the GAL program. Since 2018, Heather has served as a volunteer or Board Member for Friends of Wake GAL, a nonprofit that supports GAL volunteers and provides services such as private tutoring, orthodontics and summer camp funding to those in the child welfare system.