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I was wondering what the timeline was from when Jimmy told Chuck he passed the bar and Chuck getting "sick" in Better Call Saul. Was Chuck's illness based on a necessity to occupy Jimmy's time, and keep him from practicing law?
In season 1 after Chuck steals his neighbor's paper and goes to the hospital Kim tells the doctor it's been 18 months since Chuck's been in the office. Was that around the same time Jimmy passed the bar?
In 1992, Chuck visited Jimmy in jail, where he bailed him out, in exchange for Jimmy turning his life around. During the subsequent nine years, Jimmy turned his life around to a degree and passed the bar exam. In 2001, Chuck stopped coming to the office, due to his developed electromagnetic hypersensitivity. By this time, Chuck's marriage with Rebecca has fallen apart.
Currently, one episode into Season 3, the nature of Chuck's electromagnetic hypersensitivity development has yet to be revealed. However, judging by the elliptical flashback style of the characters' back stories, it can be speculated to be a poignant plot point that will further explain the brothers' complicated relationship.
Minor spoilers up to S3E5! (but I think OP's question implies he has seen this episode).
Was Chuck's illness based on a necessity to occupy Jimmy's time, and keep him from practicing law?
Chuck seems to believe in the existence of his own disease. He has taken measures that do not impact Jimmy's ability to practice law directly. And he has inconvenienced other people even if it was completely unrelated to Jimmy.
Chuck is a master manipulator, though. He exacerbated his condition in order to manipulate Jimmy and extract a confession. However, I believe that Chuck would've done the same if his illness was real to begin with (e.g. cancer).
While Chuck has used his illness as a means to the goal of getting Jimmy to stop practicing law; his illness did not originate as a means to that achieve that goal.
However, if I may rephrase your question:
Has Chuck exacerbated his illness and the amount of attention he requires (groceries, help around the house, ...) in order to hinder Jimmy's day job as a lawyer?
It's possible. But then again, Chuck seems just as needy when he relies on Ernie, when Jimmy is no longer affected by Chuck's neediness.
Jimmy seems to swing by Chuck's before or after work. He also doesn't particularly keep to a 9-to-5 schedule (nor any other lawyer in the show, for that matter), so it seems unlikely that Chuck expected Jimmy to work less hours as a lawyer because he did chores for Chuck.
More likely, Jimmy would simply work at night if he had been busy for Chuck during the day. We see many cases of lawyers (most notably Kim and Jimmy) work long hours because they are dedicated to their jobs.
So I think the following would be an accurate summary:
In the episode RICO (S01E08), Jimmy informs his brother that he passed the bar while we can see his brother not ill.
Chuck is the picture of health, sitting in his corner office amidst various forms of electricity. He's even using a Dictaphone to compose a letter. Jimmy timidly interrupts and reveals that he passed the New Mexico Bar Exam ( . . . ). He asks if he can come work at HHM once he is sworn in. Chuck tells him that he has to confer with the other partners, but signals optimism: "How can they say no?". Later that day, Jimmy celebrates with his fellow mailroom employees and Kim. Howard Hamlin stops by the party and -- after the others have left -- informs Jimmy that HHM will not be hiring him.
So Chuck developed his illness while Jimmy was already a lawyer.
In the episode Chicanery (S03E05), it is revealed that Chuck's condition is a mental illness he started to develop after his divorce.
Also, in Chuck's page, you can read that
Jimmy suggests that Chuck developed his condition in response to his divorce from his wife.
Chuck has a psychosomatic illness developed around the time Jimmy becomes a lawyer. The nature of this type of mental illness is that the person does not realize there are emotional reasons behind the illness. So its plausible Chuck got sick because he couldn't handle the fact that Jimmy changed. Chuck has no idea his symptoma are because of Jimmy and his marriage ending. He has no insight at all. Only near the end did he realize it was a psychological issue, but he never ever explores why. Sure he uses the illness to entrap Jimmy, but he is not faking it. Neither brother ever really deals with feelings effectively. And they destroy each othee. Chuck is a hateful guy. He is so mean. He fears he is unlovable and that Jimmy is actually everyone's favorite and also smart. He did change for 9 years. That should have been enough.
