Cara Wells Stigger was born and raised on a large farm in Spencer County, Kentucky. She has four siblings and graduated from Spencer County High School in 1982. She attended Eastern Kentucky University on a Presidential Scholarship and graduated cum laude in 1986 with a Bachelor's degree in Paralegal Science with a minor in Business.

During her high school and college years, Cara became interested in a legal career while watching her parents struggle to maintain the family farm after consecutive years of flooding, which destroyed their crops. After years of legal battles, the bank ultimately won and Cara’s family lost the farm and their home.

Cara went to University of Louisville School of Law and graduated with a Juris Doctrine degree in 1989. Cara is licensed to practice law in the states of Kentucky and Indiana. She began her career in Indiana practicing general law until shifting the focus of her practice to personal injury cases in 1998. Since then Cara has been representing people who have been injured by automobile accidents, motorcycle accidents, medical negligence, and other personal injury cases.
Cara is a member of the Kentucky Justice Association and the Indiana Trial Lawyers Association.

Cara has been married to Bruce Stigger since 1988 and they have two children, Ben and Ellie. They are members of Northeast Christian Church. Much of her family remains in Spencer County, Kentucky.