Q. I have recently divorced from my husband of 20 years. When we got married, I was truly blessed with a wonderful stepson and stepdaughter. Their father — my husband — was an addict and in recovery for many years (so he says). Our marriage ended because of his dishonesty about drug usage, eventually leading to a DWI when he ran someone off the road and rear-ended another vehicle.

This was after countless lost nights of sleep; harm to our home; emotional, verbal and physical abuse — which he never owned up to (or should I say, remembered). Needless to say, the accident was the end of our marriage.

I still have an unresolved issue with my stepdaughter. I gave her $10,000 of my own personal money for her wedding.

The wedding was canceled the day before it was due to take place because she and her fiance are addicts, and when the money was gone, he left. She is well-supported and can return the money and other gifts (which she has not done). Any advice for me?

Strapped Stepmother

A. Your stepdaughter should reimburse you for the money you gave to her to fund her wedding, and she should return any wedding gifts she received.

However, I think it’s pretty obvious that she will not follow through. She’s an addict. She is the daughter of an addict. I’m afraid you know all too well how unreliable people in the throes of addiction are. If she has access to funds to repay you, you might consider taking her to court to try to recover at least some of this money. I hope you can move on and find peace.

Q. I’m an attorney representing people with disabilities.

I’m adding to your advice to “Academically Challenged,’’ the disabled college freshman who was feeling overwhelmed. She should go to her college’s student services office and inquire about seeking “accommodations’’ through a 504 plan. If she has an evaluation that formally identifies the nature of her learning disability, then she will likely qualify for accommodations such as extra time on tests, specific layouts of assignments such that they are visually less distracting (depending on her specific disability), or “assistive technologies’’ that will help her even the playing field.

Student services also often offer tutoring at little or low cost.

She may need her parents’ help to figure out how to access the services that the college offers. Esquire

A. Many people wrote in with similar recommendations for this overwhelmed student. Thank you.

Amy Dickinson can be reached at askamy@tribpub.com.