By Weld Royal

When financial advisor Ben Simerly signed up a new client a couple of years ago, the issue of divorce came up before the real problem emerged. The female client expressed concern about her husband's lack of motivation and his disengagement at home. But her descriptions also included mentions of her husband's alcohol use, even though the client didn't see it as unusual. "Her descriptions rang instant alarm bells in my mind, despite her being clearly unaware of any cause for concern," recalls Simerly, the next-gen founder of financial planning firm Lakehouse Family Wealth.

Over time, Simerly began to see a pattern. The way the client spoke about her husband's drinking suggested that heavy alcohol use had been normalized, shaped by a family history where it was just part of the background. It took weeks of trust-building conversations for Simerly to help the client recognize that what she had first described as normal was actually a problem. The recognition became crucial. With professional support, the client confronted the alcoholism at home and determined the future she wanted for herself and her children. She ultimately filed for divorce, and began rebuilding her life.

The intersection of wealth management and substance misuse. The situation also taught Simerly to be on the lookout for substance abuse. He says many of his older clients have a grandchild, a daughter, son-in-law, or someone else in their family circle who has dealt with substance abuse. Statistics support what Simerly and other financial advisors are finding: Some 16.8% of Americans aged 12 or older -- more than 48 million people -- had a substance use disorder in 2024, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health released by SAMHSA in July 2025.

"You have to be proficient in this topic if you're going to represent clients," observes Will Lucius, chief trust officer at Raymond James Trust, who often guides advisors who have clients or members of their families who are struggling. Lucius says it's a confluence of factors that bring substance abuse into financial advice conversations. "You have a significant amount of wealth that is transferring from one generation to the next, which is making estate-planning conversations more prevalent than they probably were in the past."

Money talks reveal truths. The advantage financial advisors have in identifying problematic drug and alcohol use is their ability to see behavior in spending patterns. They also typically know clients well. Advisors see clients regularly, review their statements, and can spot warning signs.

Brady Lochte, 27, founder of Axon Capital Management in Austin, Texas, has worked with clients whose substance abuse materialized through changes in behavior rather than admission. "Erratic spending, unexplained withdrawals, missed obligations, or one spouse suddenly taking a much more defensive or anxious posture around money -- those patterns tend to show up in the financial data before they're fully acknowledged in conversation," he says.

Lochte believes the best approach involves reducing risk and creating boundaries. "When someone is dealing with substance abuse, the financial stress often compounds the emotional stress," he says. "Providing structure and a sense of agency around money helps clients feel less overwhelmed and more empowered to make decisions that support their safety and long-term well-being." This can include separating accounts, tightening cash access, setting up clear budgeting systems, and sometimes coordinating with attorneys or therapists.

A marine's experience. After serving as a U.S. Marine, Steven Crane, now 30, became homeless. Although never struggled with substance abuse, he met people who did, and that experience now helps him support clients. Crane eventually found stable housing, work as a financial counselor, and later established Financial Legacy Builders, a registered investment advisor that counts vets among its clients. He remembers one client, an active duty soldier, whose finances didn't make sense. When Crane looked line by line at the client's spending, he saw frequent bar tabs, late-night charges, and cash withdrawals outside of normal household expenses. "I didn't accuse or label anything," Crane recalls. "I just asked questions and stayed curious."

He came to believe the client was using alcohol to cope with larger problems and guilt. He began to shift their conversation to planning: What kind of life did the person want for himself and his family? "He didn't want to change for himself, but he cared deeply about his family, " Crane says. "Once he could see how his behavior was quietly putting their future at risk, something clicked."

Delicate and consequential conversations. These kinds of difficult family situations may now be easier for advisors to address thanks to changes to state trust codes over the past decade, says Raymond James trust and estate expert Lucius. He says trusts can now include provisions that change based on a beneficiary's circumstances.

Lucius points to a common scenario: parents with two children, one of whom struggles with addiction, and an estate plan that divides assets 50-50 outright at death. "That's probably not a good idea," he says. An unrestricted inheritance can unintentionally enable addiction by providing immediate access to cash at a vulnerable moment.

Lucius also cautions against outright disinheritance. "Completely cutting someone out, or relying on a sibling with a handshake agreement to 'take care of them,' is overly simplistic planning."

Instead a trust might be written to provide regular income, while giving a trustee discretion to suspend distributions if substance-use issues resurface. In those periods, funds can be redirected toward treatment or recovery, rather than enabling destructive behavior. These structures allow families to protect loved ones without abandoning them.

Executing this kind of strategy requires a team approach: estate-planning attorneys draft the trust provisions, professional trustees carry them out, and financial advisors manage the underlying assets -- often serving as quarterbacks in situations that demand technical skill and sensitivity. "The qualities that make a good advisor are the ability to elicit that information over time, and then, more importantly, understanding that there are options available," says Lucius.

Write to advisor.editors@barrons.com

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April 14, 2026 15:49 ET (19:49 GMT)

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