Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

You need to take the will to a Probate attorney to have the terms of the will explained to you, along with the consequences of the failure of the will to name other children of your father (living or dead) and provide for them in the will. The attorney is not proposing to change your father's will after your father's death.

It is not that a will can be changed after death, it is that the law provides that if a will is not properly drawn to account for all heirs, it may be wholly or partially invalid and/or the law supersedes the will. That is what you are facing here. I suggest you follow Mr. White's advice and take the will and the situation to another probate lawyer who did not draw the will and ask what the real situation is and what if anything can be done. If you are stuck giving your niece or nephew half the estate, you should also look into whether you have standing to bring a malpractice action against the attorney who drew the will. It would be malpractice to draw a will without asking if there were any pre-deceased children who had surviving issue. I'm just not up on whether you have legal standing to sue for malpractice that was committed against your father. As a beneficiary you might.