Carol A. Behers

Carol A. Behers, Partner

Raphael, Ramsden & Behers

Carol A. Behers practices all aspects of family law including divorce, complex property distribution and support, child custody, and preparation and review of Premarital Agreements. She is focused on client needs, assisting individuals during the most difficult times in their lives. Attorney Behers relies upon her thirty-five (35) years of family law experience to provide clients with sound legal advice and a strategic plan for achieving individual and family goals. She combines her experience with respect and compassion for her clients. Attorney Behers is a frequent lecturer and published author on various family law topics, a Bar Association leader, and the recipient of several peer recognition awards.

Attorney Behers is a 1980 Magna Cum Laude graduate of Duquesne University, and a 1983 graduate of the Duquesne University School of Law. She served as Associate Recent Decisions Editor for the Duquesne University Law Review.

She is a member of the Allegheny County Bar Association (ACBA), Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA), and American Bar Association (ABA), and a member of the Family Law Section of all three (3) associations. She is a member of the ACBA Board of Governors, and is a former Chair of the Family Law Section of the ACBA; former Co-Chair of its Professionalism and Rules Committee. She also served as an elected member of the Judiciary Committee of the ACBA. She is also a former Chair of the PBA Family Law Section.

Attorney Behers is a Fellow in the Allegheny County and Pennsylvania Bar Foundations. She is a Past President and Trustee of the Allegheny County Bar Foundation, and Co-Chair of its Fellows Committee. She is the Chair of the Foundation’s Lawyers’ Fund Committee.

She has been selected to the “Best Lawyers in America”, in the practice area of family law in the 2003-2018 editions, and was named as Pittsburgh’s 2016 Family Law Lawyer of the Year by Best Lawyers, as well as one of Pennsylvania’s top fifteen (15) women lawyers in the Business Edition of Best Lawyers. She has been named as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer, in all editions of the Pennsylvania Super Lawyers Magazine, including 2018, named as one of the top 50 lawyers in Pittsburgh (2010), and one of the top 50 women lawyers in Pennsylvania (2008-2010) by the magazine. She was selected to the 2012 inaugural edition of Martindale Hubbell’s Preeminent Women Lawyers Registry and selected, again, in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. Ms. Behers has an overall AV preeminent rating from Martindale Hubbell.

Attorney Behers has lectured and written on family law topics through the Pennsylvania Bar Institute (PBI), the continuing legal education arm of the Pennsylvania Bar Association. She co-authors three (3) publications for the Institute: Pennsylvania Family Law Citator; Premarital Agreements in Pennsylvania; and Pennsylvania Family Law Discovery Forms. She served a six (6) year term on the Board of Directors of the PBI. While on the Board, she Co-Chaired the Institute’s Regional (Large City) Committee and Publications Committee, and was a member of its Diversity and Strategic Planning Committees.

She is a former Chair of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s Domestic Relations Procedural Rules Committee, by appointment of the Supreme Court. She received a Presidential Award from the PBA in 2011 for her efforts related to the passage of Pennsylvania’s current custody law, and a Chair’s Award from the Family Law Section in 2014. In 2012, she received the Duquesne University Woman of Distinction Award, and in 2016 she received the Allegheny County Bar Foundation’s Inaugural Heart of Justice Award. In 2017, she received a Special Achievement Award from the PBA for her work on legislative amendments to the Pennsylvania Divorce Code.

Attorney Behers is trained in collaborative law, an approach to family law dispute resolution which provides an alternative to court litigation.

Attorney Behers joined the firm of Raphael, Ramsden & Behers, P.C. as an associate in December 1989. She became a principal in the firm in 1993.

Honors and Awards

Best Lawyers in America in Family Law,2003-2018
Best Lawyers in America – Pittsburgh’s Family Law Lawyer of The Year, 2016
Pennsylvania Super Lawyers (all editions)
Top 50 Women Lawyers in Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Super Lawyers Magazine – 2008
Top 50 Women Lawyers in Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Super Lawyers Magazine – 2009
Top 50 Women Lawyers in Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Super Lawyers Magazine – 2010
Top 50 Lawyers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Super Lawyers Magazine - 2010
PBA President’s Award (2011)
Duquesne University Woman of Distinction Award (2012)
PBA FLS Chair’s Award (2014)
Allegheny County Bar Foundation’s Inaugural Heart of Justice Award (2016)
PBA Special Achievement Award (2017)
Martindale Hubbell Inaugural Registry of Preeminent Women Lawyers (2012)
Martindale Hubbell Registry of Preeminent Women Lawyers (2013) (2014) (2015) (2016) (2017) (2018)
Martindale Hubbell – AV preeminent rating