Elisabeth M. Edwards is a founding attorney at Wanzer Edwards, PC where she practices in the areas of family law and divorce, including collaborative law, family mediation and arbitration, and parenting coordination. Elisabeth is also frequently appointed as a Guardian ad litem.
Ms. Edwards completed her undergraduate degree at Hanover College, majoring in English. She went on to earn her Juris Doctor at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law.
Ms. Edwards’s professional career involvements include serving as the President of the Board of Directors of the Protective Order Pro Bono Project of Greater Indianapolis, Inc. until she assisted with its merger into the Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence in 2007. Ms. Edwards has been recognized as a 2008 Up and Coming Lawyer in the “Leadership in the Law” special edition of the Indiana Lawyer, and as a Rising Star by SuperLawyers Magazine from 2010-2016 and as a SuperLawyer from 2018-Present.
Ms. Edwards is a member of the Indianapolis Bar (“IndyBar”) Association, and the Family Law and Alternative Dispute Resolution Sections. She served as the Chair of the Family Law Section in 2020. She also graduated from the 2007 IndyBar Bar Leader Series, Class IV, and served on the Bar Leader Series Steering Committee until 2011. She has served as an at-large member of the IndyBar Association Board of Directors, and on various committees of the Indianapolis Bar Foundation. Her professional memberships also include the Family and Juvenile Law Divisions of the Indiana State Bar Association, the Hendricks County Bar Association (“HCBA”), the Indiana Chapter of the Association of Family & Conciliation Courts (“AFCC”), and the Indiana Association of Mediators. She served as Vice-President of the HCBA in 2015 and served as President in 2016. Ms. Edwards served on the Board of the Central Indiana Association of Collaborative Professionals from 2011-2020, serving as Treasurer from 2011-2015, Vice President from 2015-2017, and President from 2017-2019. She hopes to make Collaborative Law a top choice among divorcing parents in central Indiana.
More recently, Ms. Edwards served as the Chair of the IndyBar Destination CLE in November 2022 and was honored to serve as President of the IndyBar Foundation Board in 2023. Ms. Edwards also completed Co-Parenting Specialist Training with Mosten Guthrie Academy in May 2022 and is committed to using skills learned in this training in her Parenting Coordination and general family law practice.
Ms. Edwards is a frequent speaker and writer in the legal field. She has appeared on Fox 59 news and on WIBC’s radio program, “Pete the Planner” to discuss family law issues. She and co-founder of Wanzer Edwards, Holly Wanzer, have co-authored numerous articles for the Indiana Lawyer, the IndyBar Association and Foundation website, the IndyBar Record, as well as the WE Law monthly blog. Additionally, Ms. Edwards has authored or co-authored numerous seminars for ICLEF, IndyBar, Hendricks County Bar Association, National Business Institute, Julian Center, Heartland Pro Bono Council and Execsense. Elisabeth most recently has helped train new Parenting Coordinators for the IndyBar Association in 2023, and is working on advanced Parenting Coordinator programming in 2025.
Ms. Edwards has served since 2014 on the Board for the Housing Corporation of the Hanover College Chi Omega Fraternity and currently serves as Secretary. She also served on the Hanover College Alumni Leadership Council from 2015-2021, serving as President in 2019-2020. She continues to serve Hanover on other alumni committees, as needed. Ms. Edwards also served as Secretary to the Board of Directors for the Avon Junior Athletic Association from 2015-2020.
In her spare time, Elisabeth is an avid reader, book club member and enjoys singing – whether in a virtual choir or karaoke — weight training, yoga, dogs, as well as spending time with her family.
Posts
What’s the Deal with the Six Percent Rule?
Have you heard your lawyer mention something called the “Six Percent Rule,” but you’re not sure what that is? This term comes from the Indiana Child Support Guidelines and is used to refer to the children’s medical expenses, which are not covered by insurance that must be paid by the parent who receives child support. The Indiana Child Support Guidelines provide that “ordinary uninsured health care expenses” of a child or children are paid by the parent who receives child support. The amount that the Child Support Guidelines have determined is the ordinary uninsured medical expenses of a child [...]
Highway to the Discovery Zone
You don’t have to be a Maverick to find yourself in “the discovery zone” during your divorce. Discovery is an extremely common and necessary tool for your attorney to help you gather information. But what exactly is it? In this post, we will review the top 4 most common discovery methods that you may encounter in your family law matter. Indiana Trial Rule 26 specifically outlines the methods of discovery which may be used. The most common two options are written interrogatories and requests for production of documents. Written interrogatories are specific questions that are asked by one party [...]
To Make-Up or Not? Changes to the IPTG Regarding Make-Up Parenting Time
Effective January 1, 2022, a revision of the Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines (“IPTG”) went into effect. Of note, the IPTG have been revised to include work obligations in Section I, (C), (2) “Adjustments to Schedule / ‘Make-Up’ Time.” However, a careful reading of the revisions would suggest that this is not an open invitation for parents to use work obligations to ask for make-up parenting time. To begin, the first paragraph of the section suggests that parents should “adjust” the parenting time schedule when events “outside the normal family routine or the control of the parent requiring the adjustment” [...]
Is the Answer Always No?
Co-parenting is tough. Add to the job the hurt feelings and lingering emotions related to a divorce or the end of a romantic relationship between parents, and co-parenting can feel insurmountable. Normal parenting style differences and differences of opinion can lead to the crumbling of communication between parents when parents fall back into old relationship patterns and begin to draw lines in the sand. It’s unfortunate but common that the normal tasks of raising a child can get caught in the static between parents in a way that holds all child-related decisions hostage. When Parent A asks to adjust [...]
What to Do with a Hesitating Child
Divorce can be hard on children. While parents have gone through the steps of grief at losing their relationship and creating a new home for themselves, it is their children who usually go back and forth – sometimes every few days – between each parent’s home. Many times, parents feel that the children need to see each parent frequently, but sometimes the constant state of motion causes a child to feel like he/she has no “home base,” and no time to relax. Also, as children get older and are more focused on friends, the parent who does not live near those friends, or is hesitant to permit the child to create social opportunities during his or her limited parenting time may also find that the child does not want to come for parenting time. Children continue to love both parents in each scenario but may express reluctance to participate in parenting time. While this hesitation can sometimes be expressed quite clearly, in other cases, it may come out as a child saying he or she has a stomachache, feels nervous, or starts crying. What is a parent to do when faced with a hesitating child?
Simple Tips for Managing Your Divorce
When family law clients are facing a divorce, they frequently feel overwhelmed and as though things are happening outside of their control. Especially concerning can be the fear of large attorney fees. How can a new client help to take charge of representation and manage expenses? Here are our top six tips to help!
