Holly Wanzer is a founding attorney of Wanzer Edwards, P.C. where she focuses her practice in family law, including collaborative divorce, family mediation, parenting coordination, appeals and representation of children as a guardian ad litem.
Ms. Wanzer earned her Juris Doctor summa cum laude from the Indiana University Robert McKinney School of Law. She graduated magna cum laude from Ball State University, earning her Bachelor of Science degree in English and advertising.
Ms. Wanzer was the founding President of the Board of Directors for the Central Indiana Association of Collaborative Professionals, which provides innovative alternatives to litigating divorce and family law matters, with an emphasis on co-parenting and resolving cases without court intervention. She has presented numerous seminars regarding collaborative law including a two-day basic training for attorneys, mental health practitioners and financial professionals in interdisciplinary collaborative law, an educational teleseminar on Collaborative law for the National Business Institute called “Collaborative Law in Family Law Disputes”, and seminars on the Collaborative family law process for the ICLEF Masters Series program and Indiana State Bar Association’s Solo & Small Firm Conference. She authored the book Introduction to Collaborative Divorce, released by James Publishing in 2014.
Ms. Wanzer is a registered family mediator and trained parenting coordinator providing services to families facing the changing circumstances which accompany dissolution of marriage, custody and parenting time modifications, child support modifications and paternity determinations. Her commitment to the private resolution of family issues, the preservation of positive working relationships within families, and her calm demeanor and sensitivity in the face of emotional challenges make her the ideal choice as a mediator or parenting coordinator for family law matters. Ms. Wanzer is a frequent speaker and presenter on issues involving mediation and mediator ethics.
Ms. Wanzer serves as a guardian ad litem representing the interests of children in courts across central Indiana. She passionately advocates for the best interests of children while at the same time seeking to shield them from the need to personally participate in the legal process.
Ms. Wanzer has been selected as a Super Lawyer by Superlawyers Magazine from 2017-2024. She serves on the Women in Law committee of the Indiana State Bar Association where she has coordinated the Lady Justice program with Girl Scouts of Central Indiana. She teaches bar review courses to recent graduates through the Indianapolis Bar Association Bar Review Course. Ms. Wanzer is a past president of the Indianapolis Bar Foundation which she continues to support as a Distinguished Fellow and Life Fellow. She volunteers her time as a Guardian ad Litem in the Marion County Superior courts and with the Marion County Modest Means Mediation program.
Posts
Parenting a Grandchild
There are many reasons why a grandparent must begin providing primary care for a grandchild in place of a parent. Whatever the reason that a parent is unavailable to care for a child, a grandparent is likely a trusted family member known to the child, which makes a grandparent a good choice as a caregiver. If you find yourself needing to be the primary caregiver for a grandchild, it is important to take the right legal steps so that you can make important decisions for a child and take steps like registering a child for school or seeking medical care. [...]
My Teenager is Rejecting Me
Have you noticed how busy the tween and teen years get all of the sudden? Your child goes from a cute and playful child to a sometimes snarky, very involved adolescent. The good news is that this transition is pretty normal and happens in just about every family. But how do you handle this when parents are co-parenting from separate households? Trust me . . . every parent, regardless of whether in an intact family or not, finds these years one part exciting and one part exhausting. It can be easy to think that kids these days are way busier [...]
I Wish I Had Known . . .
If you are facing a divorce, it is likely that you are entering an unfamiliar process. You have seen television shows about divorce and known other people who got divorced but did not expect to be completing the process yourself. As you embark on this process which will impact your future, consider these pieces of advice from those who have been there about what they wish they would have known when they started their divorces. “It won’t happen overnight”: Robert heard from his attorney when he filed for divorce that Indiana has a waiting period of 60 days between [...]
My Co-Parent Wants to Move . . . Now What?
When you receive notice that your co-parent is planning to move, it’s common to feel concerned and uncertain. If you and your co-parent live close to one another you no doubt have developed a routine of parenting time, children’s activities, and division of labor. A move could change things. Now what? The first thing to do is to resist the urge to panic. If you are receiving a legal notice of relocation, read it carefully to learn the details about where your co-parent wants to move and whether there will be a need to change the current parenting plan. [...]
Is My Spouse Allowed to Date During Our Divorce?
If you are in the midst of the divorce process it can be distressing to learn that your soon-to-be-ex spouse is dating someone else. Is there anything you can do about it and how will it impact your divorce? This is certainly a difficult and emotional issue; however, it is generally not a legal one. When one spouse files for divorce, the law automatically considers the spouses to be legally separated. Often at this stage spouses begin living in separate residences and begin to think about what their lives will look like after the divorce is over. This makes [...]
Should You Agree to a Custody Evaluation?
If you are involved in a court case about custody you may be asked to consider completing a custody evaluation. Before you agree or disagree, it’s important to understand what the process involves and how a custody evaluation could impact your case. A custody evaluation is typically completed by a psychologist, and it involves a few different steps. First, it’s important to note that a custody evaluation involves both parents and the children. This means that the evaluation should either be agreed by the parents or ordered by the court. It’s not possible to get a custody evaluation when [...]
