Inheritance advice

[Isthismykarma]

My family don’t have a lot of money. My uncle has never been able to work due to severe mental health issues, but had a lottery win some years back and bought a house outright with the winnings that he lives in.
He has no children, three siblings and 6 nieces/nephews.
His will states that everything is to be divided equally between the nieces/nephews. He relies upon his siblings a lot for help with managing finances etc, they keep an eye out for him as sometimes when his health his bad he can not function properly. Think toileting in the street, walking around town at 3am, he’s been bullied by local gangs etc. He can be hard work too but his siblings overall are there for him.
His will came up for some reason and my cousin mentioned “oh yeah but I spoke to my mum and they’re changing it”. I asked what does she mean by that and she said “yeah my mum said they’re changing his will so it’s split between the siblings instead”. I think they would be very capable of manipulating him to change his will and I don’t think this is ethical. I know as the niece I could be seen as biased of course because him not changing it but benefit me, but my thought is that his wishes should be respected and his siblings shouldn’t have the attached of “WE’RE changing it”. I haven’t brought this up with anyone but I worry that one day the aunty will have power of attorney etc, and it doesn’t seem right. Just looking for advice really.

This sounds like a vulnerable person safeguarding issue, and you need to report it to social services. Someone with power of attorney cannot change a person's existing will, and if the person doesn't have mental capacity (which could be relevant here), a solicitor wouldn't allow it anyway.

It’s difficult to assess his mental capacity, from past involvement of social services and hospital etc it’s like he’s borderline which means he sort of falls through the gaps and there’s no appropriate help/care.
I think they’d convince him that it’s better left to them, but it’s hard to prove if this is manipulation or whether they’re just stating their opinion and he has a change of heart. I’m not even sure myself how I feel about it.

On the basis that his siblings are caring for him it wouldn't seem unreasonable. Nieces and nephews will get a share in the fullness of time.

Report it as a safeguarding issue in any case. It's not up to you to decide whether an elderly or vulnerable person is actually being abused. Your responsibility is to report your concern. The safeguarding team are then responsible for finding out whether anyone is abusing their power.

Keep as much evidence as you can of your uncle not being of sound mind. if they succeed in changing the Will, you may be able to contest it nevertheless. When the executors apply for probate, you can lodge an objection saying that you believe that the Will being presented was coerced after your uncle lost the capacity for independent decision making, and coerced by the people who stand to benefit most from the new Will.

Heard that one before 🤣🤣🤣

If he wants his nieces and nephews to inherit and also his siblings then he needs to change the will accordingly for everything to be split equally between everyone. Otherwise relying on someone else to pass on your inheritance to whom you want it to go to is ridiculous and never going to happen.