Part 2 of Webinar Series: Financial Planning with Survivors of Domestic Violence

Wednesday, October 14, 2026, at 1:00 PM ET

Erika Sussman, JD, LLM, Founder & Executive Director, Center for Survivor Agency and Justice

Katie VonDeLinde, MSW, LCSW, Expert Advisor, Center for Survivor Agency and Justice; Senior Lecturer, Washington University in St. Louis

Survivors of domestic violence frequently experience economic abuse, a pattern of behaviors used to control a person’s ability to acquire, use, and maintain financial resources. Survivors may face employment interference, restricted access to money, hidden or depleted assets, damaged credit, coerced debt, and other financial barriers that limit their options for safety and long-term stability.

Financial planners can play an important complementary role in helping survivors understand their financial circumstances, evaluate options, and develop practical and effective financial plans. However, if they do not account for coercive control and privacy concerns and the survivor’s priorities, traditional financial planning approaches may be unintentionally unsafe, unrealistic, or retraumatizing.

In this free, CE-eligible two-part webinar series, Katie VonDeLinde, MSW, LCSW, and Erika Sussman, JD, LLM, will provide financial planners with a survivor-centered and trauma-informed framework for working with clients who have experienced domestic violence and economic abuse. Participants will learn how to recognize economic abuse, conduct safer financial assessments, adapt financial planning strategies for survivors, and collaborate effectively with domestic violence advocates and other community professionals. The Center for Survivor Agency and Justice will provide participants with access to its online resources and national networks, to support survivor-centered, trauma-informed financial planning.

Building on the September 23rd webinar, this session helps financial planners adapt their professional expertise to support domestic violence survivors’ immediate safety, self-determined goals, and long-term financial well-being. Participants will examine how standard recommendations related to budgeting, saving, credit, insurance, retirement, separation, and estate planning may need to be modified when a client is experiencing or recovering from economic abuse.

The webinar will emphasize collaborative planning that presents options rather than prescriptions and translates complex financial issues into practical, manageable steps. Participants will consider how to support survivors at different stages, including preparing for safety, navigating separation, addressing credit damage, rebuilding assets, and establishing longer-term economic security. The session will also clarify the boundaries of the financial planner’s role and the importance of coordinated work with advocates and other professionals.

• Adapt traditional financial planning strategies to account for survivor safety, agency, changing circumstances, and self-identified priorities.
• Develop practical short- and long-term planning approaches related to budgeting, savings, credit, debt, insurance, benefits, retirement, and estate planning.
• Use collaborative communication strategies that increase clarity, choice, confidence, and follow-through without directing or pressuring the survivor.
• Distinguish between financial planning services and issues requiring legal, advocacy, mental health, or other specialized support.

• A recording will be available to attendees following the event
• This webinar offers 1.0 CE credit for CFP® professionals and AFC® professionals

This webinar is sponsored by Fidelity Investments