Can she do this?

[Æthelred]

Can she do this?

First time OP here and please forgive the lack of acronyms.

My friend's mother says she will disinherit him unless he cares for her in her own home until she dies.
He's the only child and she was widowed 8 years ago.
In 2020 she suffered a serious stroke and she needs constant care.

I don't know the exact details but there are three properties on the land and she owns all of them. He will inherit the entire estate unless she carries out her threat to change her will to leave everything to a donkey sanctuary or whatever.
The other two properties are a garage (my friend is also my motor mechanic and the garage is his livelihood) and the bungalow where my friend lives. Since the stroke she has waived all rents but there's no doubt about who has the whip hand.
My friend has to drop everything and see to her needs at a moment's notice - shopping, healthcare appointments and his work suffers as a result; for instance I was scheduled to collect my car - a 35 mile bicycle ride away, this morning.

I was told last night that one of the pieces of work wasn't done because he had to go and buy some compost, begonias and other essential items yesterday afternoon.

I still collected my car this morning; it won't start properly from cold because the work wasn't completed but I wasn't prepared to have my weekend disrupted. I will have to take the car to a local auto electrician to complete the work.

It's first world problems for me but I am very worried about the impact this situation - which won't go on forever - is having on my friend.

To me it looks like my friend is enslaved until his mother dies - is this right and is there anything he can do to free himself from his maze?

Oh, sorry. It looked fine to me and was just a case summary from a centuries old well known regional law firm.

@HappyHamsters · Today 11:39
How can she change her Will if she is housebound.

Pretty easily, solicitors do housecalls to housebound clients.

Agreed. I can assure the forum that there is no chance of any such thing happening at the garage - my friend is a gentle soul and a hopeless liar as well. It's a sad situation which will have to run its course.

I have re-read what I wrote, and it does look like I was flippantly or callously suggesting that the man could safeguard his inheritance by murdering or neglecting his mother, who, of course, he probably loves. it was a very silly thing to post, and I apologise.

Except that karma can come around to those who issue ultimatums, which is what I was reaching for, I think.

There's no need to apologise - I know exactly where you are coming from and I have made observations in the past to my friend that she's lucky she's not my mother.

I don't know her all that well - I've not seen her since 2018, a year or so after she was widowed. I knew his Dad much better - he died a rather nasty death from a brain tumour and my friend lost his best mate and his father at the same time. She seemed to be embracing widowhood - very active and independent but she didn't take the pills she was prescribed for her high blood pressure because they left a nasty aftertaste.

Yes, I think karma is the word you were looking for.