Devoted couple Garry and Debbie Ormiston's idyll has been cruelly disrupted with the news that Garry, 57, has just months to live. Despite being repeatedly told of their right to extract all of the money tax-free from Garry's pension under serious ill-health rules, they have been thwarted by regulations that various pension experts describe as 'daft' and 'cruel'.

My father has recently died leaving his estate to a dogs' home. The hurt I feel is compounded by the fact that I have a chronic illness and am unable to work. I am also unfortunately a WASPI woman, who has no state pension and therefore I am in a poor financial state. How does someone in my position try and claim? Lawyer Gary Rycroft, pictured, helps out.

The taxman took a record £5 billion in death duties in 2017-18, up £400 million on the previous year, by charging 40 per cent on estates worth more than £325,000 (£650,000 for married couples). But just one in six families who paid inheritance tax benefited from the new family home allowance, though far more were expected to qualify.

Most adults in the UK do not have a will - and a leading beneficiary of this financial planning blindspot is the Government. Large slices of wealth that have not been efficiently allocated in life or in a will end up as tax handed to the Treasury.

Those who provide help are supporting on average three other members of their family at a time - usually children, but also grandchildren and their own parents. Handouts for food and travel are most common, but pensioners also often pay university fees or help others to buy homes, the research by financial giant Prudential found.

We are still being contacted by readers struggling to recoup thousands of pounds in useless top-up payments. Mary O'Connor, pictured, has spent six months chasing a £3,398 refund. Savers are being told by the Government to seek expensive financial advice if they want to top up their state pensions - or risk losing thousands. Officials have told us they are unable to tell savers if the voluntary payments they make to boost their retirement income will make a difference..

In our special Investing Show Live, Simon Lambert is joined by Seven IM's Justin Urquhart Stewart and Matthew Yeates to look at why investing in retirement is different now, the investments that can suit your pension pot and the pitfalls to avoid. In the second part of the show, we look at whether the good times can return for investors after 2018's wobbly start.

My parents have decided to leave their house to their only granddaughter after their passing. However, my daughter has said it seems a little unfair on me so she wants to split the inheritance two ways, so we both get an equal share of their estate. Can this be done and are there any taxation implications? Liz Alley of Brewin Dolphin (pictured) replies.

Watchdogs could ban financial advisers from offering 'no transfer, no fee' deals to savers looking to ditch final salary pensions. Savers are being tempted to give up valuable defined benefit pensions, which promise a set income for life, by large sums paid into inferior pensions they must invest themselves - with offers potentially worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

There has been a spate of headlines recently about some retirement property developers' hidden fees and escalating ground rents. However, not all are the same and many provide great service. We ask McCarthy & Stone's chief executive Clive Fenton to give us a detailed breakdown of the costs your parents can expect.

What are the most common pension myths? Avoiding these mistakes, knowing the facts, and using them to your advantage will help you plan a wealthier retirement. Nathan Long, pension expert at financial giant Hargreaves Lansdown, explains the fallacies many savers are convinced are true.

How can I get my brother to produce documentation that reveals how much he sold my mother's house for, where he put the money and how much, if any, is left? He was given power of attorney to sell my mother's house which was in the Caribbean. Since my mother has died he is reluctant to let us know any of the above details and is making no arrangements to split the remainder of the money, in accordance with her will. Solicitor Gary Rycroft (pictured) replies.

Today we call for an overhaul of the state pension top-ups offered to millions of savers. Savers are paying up to £2,000 extra to boost payouts, but it doesn't work for some. We have received a deluge of complaints from readers who have fallen foul of complex rules and poor advice.

Savers will have to be told the difference between a provider's own offer and the best available one - in pounds and pence annual income - from a comparison tool covering every firm in the market. Today's rule change by the Financial Conduct Authority comes into force as annuity rates finally start increasing after years at rock bottom, following recent interest rate rises.

Those still married said they expect to have a yearly pension income of £21,400, compared to £17,600 for those who have gone through divorce, according to a survey of 1,000 people planning to retire this year commissioned by pension provider Prudential. Research also shows that 15 per cent divorcees have no private pension savings to rely on at retirement, compared to a smaller 11 per cent of married couples.

Up to 900,000 savers face a tax nightmare as NS&I; three-year pensioner bonds come to an end, as they will be paid interest all at once and potentially bust the interest-free limit. TDeals were sold from January 15, 2015, to May 15, 2015, and were popular for their 4 per cent interest rate on up to £10,000. But the tax quirks on this 'simple' account are complex.

Research probing 2,000 adults on their vulnerability to fraudsters found that 29 per cent - the equivalent of 14.8million Britons - would miss the most common methods of looting retirement savings. The fraud test results were published by the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association as it emerged watchdogs are battling a worsening 'cloning' scourge. This is where financial sharks create copycat websites and pose as legitimate investment businesses to cheat people out of their savings.

It may not seem like a grand romantic gesture, but making sure your spouse is financially comfortable in retirement, will go a long way towards securing your future happiness together. Here are our top tips.

Shane Bujold, a 32-year-old accountant, has accused former employer SC Johnson of unfairly withholding a chunk of his pension fund, and blamed bungled messages by its administrator Aon Hewitt for his predicament. SC Johnson told This is Money that it had followed the rules, and Aon defended its conduct in a response published below.

FCA will look at whether consumer protections need to be introduced after an investigation into whether personal pensions are too complicated, hard to swap between, or over-priced. Regulators are turning their attention to 'non-workplace' pensions after a sweeping overhaul of work schemes in recent years.

News of an inheritance tax overhaul has led to an outpouring of helpful suggestions from experts - and top of the wishlist is ditching or revising George Osborne's new property rules. Chancellor Philip Hammond is also being warned against any sneaky new ploys to raise revenues from people passing on wealth to loved ones.

Our mother passed away in 2013 leaving the estate to be divided between siblings.The time now has come where we feel that it is time to sell, but my brother still lives there. As the executor how can we make this legal without losing our individual share of the estate? Paul Handford, lawyer at Which! Legal (pictured), explains the options.

Annuity rates could finally start to increase in 2018 and their popularity grow once again, says expert Billy Burrows of financial adviser Better Retirement. He explains why rates have been low for so long, and what might happen to boost them again, including a 'good Brexit' that keeps the economy steady and nudges interest rates higher.

The advisers, some of whom persuaded former British Steel workers to transfer out of their pension schemes, have been given fresh momentum following a series of recent corporate failures. Fears that the transfer frenzy could be running out of control caused the Work and Pensions Select Committee, led by Labour MP Frank Field, to accuse the City regulator of 'sleepwalking into another huge mis-selling scandal' - particularly in relation to the British Steel Pension Fund.

People stopping work in 2018 expect to be £1,800 a year better off than last year's cohort, according to a nationwide survey of 1,000 people by Prudential. Average expected retirement incomes - including money from state or private pensions, savings and investments - have now risen consistently since 2013 when they hit a low of £15,300.

David Deabill, 62, pictured with wife Kim, was looking to boost his future payouts from £128 to £146 a week when he was told his latest state pension forecast was incorrect. Government staff said he must wait for  a manual calculation that would take five to six weeks. Millions of people get state pension forecasts online or apply for paper versions from the Department for Work and Pensions, and rely on their accuracy when planning their finances in retirement.

Would it actually make any difference to my retirement if I upped my pension contributions now? William Burrows of Better Retirement Group, pictured, explains how much you can expect to have in your pension pot at retirement based on different ages and contributions.

While many people dislike the idea of an annuity, the alternative means keeping your pension invested in retirement and managing it yourself - a process that can be confusing and full of pitfalls. So here's a checklist, from investing, to income, taxes, the state pension, inheritance, illness, financial advice and much else.

By the  time you retire you should really have mapped out how you'll get an income that'll last as long as you'll need. Ideally, that means sitting down with a financial adviser and plotting a course for your investments before you stop work. But there is nothing stopping those who've already started dipping into their pot from coming up with a masterplan now.

There are many legal ways to dodge the dreaded 40 per cent 'death tax' if you want to pass on the maximum sum possible and are prepared to plan ahead. Here's our round-up of 10 ways to reduce or avoid a large inheritance tax bill, some of which can be undertaken easily by any ordinary person without the need for elaborate arrangements or to pay for professional help.

Grappling with the benefits monster can be daunting, particularly for those struggling with common side effects such as nausea, fatigue and chemo brain. But making sure you get the support you need and deserve while you beat your illness is hugely important. Here's everything you need to know.

Modern family dynamics are also causing more rows, with divorce, second marriages, stepchildren and half-brothers and sisters now common. The more extended the family, the more likely it is that arguments will arise. One of the most recent high-profile cases is a dispute over the legacy left by Lynda Bellingham, who starred in the Oxo adverts in the Eighties.

Instead of being stuck with stingy annuities, retirees now have the freedom to dip into their pensions using income drawdown. These schemes allow you to take sums out of your pension pot while the rest stays invested. So what are the advantages and risks of doing this, and what schemes are on offer? We run through the main options now, and look ahead to what might become available in future.

Pension freedom reforms will give people more decision-making power over their retirement savings from next year. The options to access your money, spend or invest it will widen - although your choices will still largely depend on the size of your pension pot. Financial experts Mark Stone of Whitechurch Securities and Ben Westaway of Jessop Financial Planning explain both your opportunities and the limitations on them.

My daughter is gifting her son £100,000 to help him buy a house. We are concerned that, if he marries and then dies, 'her' money in the form of the house may disappear to a third party, her son's widow. Which is the best way to safeguard the money? Lawyer James Antoniou, pictured, of Co-op Legal Services, replies.

My mum and dad are separated and living apart now for years. Dad was emotionally abusive and unfaithful to mum for years. She now wants rid of him from her life - through divorce. But she is retired and lives off her pension, plus her state pension. Can my dad potentially make a bid for mum's pension if she were to divorce him? Jacqueline Major (pictured), solicitor and Partner at London law firm Hodge Jones & Allen, replies.

On a recent trip to South Africa my mother requested that my aunt give me my grandfather's war diaries. She refused. As far as I know these were not specified in any will. Is she entitled to them because she has power of attorney for my grandmother? Can I make her hand them over because my mother is the oldest and so she should have claim to them?

My father passed away in 2010. His second wife is 85 and still living in the house they bought. My father's half was left to myself and two sisters, possibly grandchildren. Now my father has passed away my stepmother is saying we will not get anything and everything will go to her two adult children. Is there anything we can do?

My husband and I made joint wills. We are divorced and he remarried three years ago. He has recently passed away and didn't make a will with his new wife. I made no changes to my will and I only have my ex-husband's copy. Is the will valid?

Legal expert Nigel Shepherd, national chair of family law organisation Resolution, explains what a partner can claim from an estate, and how the cash machine withdrawal might affect this case. Shepherd also looks at how to avoid legal costs swallowing up a small estate in disputes like this one.

I want to ensure that if I die before my husband he gets the money, but if he remarried and then died my half would end up with my children not any new spouse or her children. How can I safeguard so that any new wife would not reap the rewards of what we have built up and at some point my children will get something from my estate?

He suddenly kept turning up on my relative's doorstep prior to her death after ignoring her for years, redid her will to leave all assets to his own wife and appointed himself executor. By the time family members had been informed of the death, he and his wife had the house cleared out and all family items sent to an auction, and had a fast funeral with no announcement or attendees apart from him and his kids. We have no idea how much the assets were worth but there were valuable paintings, antiques and at least £50,000 in cash. Is this legal and what action can be taken?