My father is independently wealthy; my guess is he was worth $15 million in 2008. He doesn’t need a home, as he lives with his new and much younger wife in her home. We children are well aware that all of his money is going to her and her children, in Australia, and we agree we have no claim to it.

As soon as the funeral was over, my father took all of my mother’s investments, a CD worth $1 million and a mutual fund worth $300,000. They have vanished. He sold my mother’s Florida home quickly and pocketed $250,000. 

Later, he sold her Illinois home and pocketed that — $500,000. He auctioned her possessions and raised over $100,000, and took that. There’s more, but I’ll drop it. His takings exceed $2 million. We do not get the earnings, so the number in 2008 is the number.

Counsel says that under Florida law no reading of the will is required, and next of kin do not have to be notified. What is missing is annual accounting to her beneficiaries of her estate’s net worth and income distribution, but we have no way to compel it, since the lawyer is compromised by representing my father.  

Further, counsel says that no recovery can be made until the husband dies and his will is executed. My sister is dead and her two children will not participate. Nevertheless, my brother and I agree that we will offer them each one-sixth of anything we recover. Can we reimburse ourselves first? It is likely they will not respond. What do we do then?

Anyway, I have lost hope. My father is close to 90 and appears to be losing his cognitive abilities, but he still manipulates everyone. Is there any strategy that might manifest my mother’s will to benefit her children?

Seeking Justice and Lost Inheritance

Dear Seeking,

The first thing you should seek is independent counsel.

There’s so much to unpack here, least of all your feelings about your father, and your suspicions about the legality of your mother’s will, and the way her trust has been managed or, indeed, mismanaged. One word of caution: Your belief that there was a fake will may not bear out.

The truth could be far more mundane than the willful ransacking of her estate outlined in your letter — an estate left in the hands of one person. I don’t want you chasing ghosts, and I don’t believe it’s healthy to chase dragons.

Florida law states that there is a three-month statute of limitations to contest a will, a time period that can only be extended if there was fraud, misrepresentations or misconduct. (You can read more about the Florida statute on that time limit here.)

It’s always important to act swiftly in such cases of uncertainty surrounding the legitimacy of a will or trust. You have — in all likelihood — allowed far too much time to pass since your mother’s death to take legal action now.

You have also far exceeded the statute of limitations for contesting a trust. There is also a different statute of limitations for contesting a trust — due to lack of mental capacity, for instance, or undue influence — and filing a lawsuit for breaching a trust. Those time periods can run from six months to four years.

You may have more luck holding your father to account for his management of the trust, assuming you and your siblings are qualified beneficiaries. Radio silence is not typically an option when managing a trust in Florida.

According to this Florida statute, the trustee should keep the beneficiaries reasonably informed. “Upon reasonable request, the trustee shall provide a qualified beneficiary with relevant information about the assets and liabilities of the trust and the particulars relating to administration,” it states.

The law firm Comiter, Singer, Baseman & Braun outlines the process for compelling a trustee to provide annual accounts and relevant details of the trust’s assets and liabilities. The trustee is obliged to give notice to the beneficiaries of the trust’s existence and the identity of the settlor/settlors, among other acts of transparency.

“When a trustee does not comply with the Florida Trust Code’s requirements they may be in breach,” the law firm says. “A trustee who is in breach of his or her duties as a trustee may be compelled by the court to account and/or provide information to a qualified beneficiary.”

Your mother could have left a separate trust for her children. It’s difficult to know her thinking. Perhaps she thought it best to leave her husband in charge of her estate. Or maybe she believed he would pass it on to her children.

This has dragged on for 15 years. Don’t allow it to usurp the next 15.

You can email The Moneyist with any financial and ethical questions related to coronavirus at qfottrell@marketwatch.com, and follow Quentin Fottrell on Twitter.

Check out the Moneyist private Facebook group, where we look for answers to life’s thorniest money issues. Readers write in to me with all sorts of dilemmas. Post your questions, tell me what you want to know more about, or weigh in on the latest Moneyist columns.

The Moneyist regrets he cannot reply to questions individually.

More from Quentin Fottrell:

• My married sister is helping herself to our parents’ most treasured possessions. How do I stop her from plundering their home?
• My mom had my grandfather sign a trust leaving millions of dollars to two grandkids, shunning everyone else
• My brother’s soon-to-be ex-wife is embezzling money from their business. How do we find hidden accounts?
• ‘Grandma recently passed away, leaving behind a 7-figure estate. Needless to say, things are getting messy’

Everyone dreads that post-party contact-tracing email or group text to say someone has tested positive for the virus. They go something like this: “Thanks for making New Year’s Eve so special. I am sorry to say that Mildred came down with symptoms of COVID-19 and tested positive the morning after.”

As the second Christmas of the coronavirus pandemic approaches with an atmosphere of nervous optimism, cases continue to rise. COVID-19 has killed 787,064 Americans. As of Dec. 6, the daily average case count in the U.S. was 119,751, up 28% in two weeks, according to the New York Times tracker.

A Christmas party for the employees of a renewable energy company in Norway was blamed for being a “super-spreader event” for the highly contagious omicron variant, which scientists are closely tracking to see how immune it is to the current array of vaccines on the market, and how much serious illness it causes.

“Our working hypothesis is that at least half of the 120 participants were infected with the omicron variant during the party. This makes this, for now, the largest omicron outbreak outside South Africa,” Preben Aavitsland, a senior physician at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, told Reuters.

Like the delta variant, omicron has spread around the world with speed, but public-health officials have said the structure of this variant has made it more powerful at reinfecting people who have already had COVID-19 and/or had a vaccine. But it has not — thus far — led to a spike in hospitalizations.

Still, some questions need to be asked before RSVP-ing to that end of year invitation: How many people will be there? Will there be good ventilation? Will the party be indoors or outdoors — a moot point if you’re living in a cold climate. How many households will be there? Will they all be vaccinated?

“Decision making has only become more complicated. There are no absolute answers,” said Dr. Andrew Pavia, the George and Esther Gross Presidential Professor at the University of Utah and head of the university hospital’s pediatric infectious-diseases unit.

In addition to how many people will be there, who will be there? Is this their first party of the season — or their 10th? “You might even consider the party behavior,” he added. “A crowded, drunken, and chaotic party like the archetype of an office party is different than a more modest gathering.”

Would he personally attend a New Year’s Eve party, if invited? “I would be comfortable attending a gathering of three to four households if the answers to the questions above were re-assuring,” Pavia told MarketWatch. “A bit boring perhaps, but it is a safe way to be around friends and family.”

Other factors: “Has everyone been boosted? Booster doses decrease the risk of breakthrough infection substantially, hence make the party safer. How careful are the attendees when not at the party?” he said. “If you know the others wear masks in crowded indoor spaces and are conscientious, the risk is reduced.”

About those boosters. While roughly 60% of the U.S. population are vaccinated, only 23% have received a booster shot so far. Research shows that Pfizer-BioNTech 
PFE,
+0.47%

BNTX,
+8.17%
and Moderna 
MRNA,
+6.41%
 boosters offer more antibodies, but Johnson & Johnson 
JNJ,
+0.26%
 boosters do still improve your immunity.

Viruses like parties

Other medical experts advise against attending a party where coronavirus threatens to be an uninvited guest. “Would you and I go into a building where we can see smoke and hear fire alarms? That’s what omicron is,” said Dr. Gregory Poland, who studies the immunogenetics of vaccine response at the Mayo Clinic.

There are no good answers to the checklist of questions, he said. “Is there is a holiday party where there is no singing, dancing and standing in close quarters? If I were the virus, I’d be rubbing my hands in glee,” Poland said. “It’s not a holiday. It’s a holidisaster! Of course, America does not want to hear that.”

Some people are taking note. Earlier this month, Rio cancelled its famous New Year’s Eve celebrations for the second year running. Eduardo Paes, mayor of the Brazilian city, wrote on Twitter
TWTR,
-0.02%
on Saturday: “We respect science.” Poland said Americans should also respect the science.

“Even in the face of delta, one out of every 405 Americas are dead from a virus that can be prevented with a 25-cent mask, a bit of distance and a free vaccine. This is unfathomable,” Poland told MarketWatch. “The virus is learning how to evade vaccine-induced immunity and virus-induced immunity.”

The Norwegian holiday party should be a warning for all partygoers, he added. “It’s the same way we got delta. People are getting infected with more than one variant. What’s to stop people getting infected with omicron and another coronavirus — something as infectious as omicron and deadly as delta?”

COVID-19 has killed more people in the U.S. than the estimated 675,000 deaths here from the 1918 influenza. “They didn’t even understand the nature of viruses yet,” Poland said. “We’ve allowed a scientific and economic problem to become a political and even a religious problem, and used as a tool to divide us.”

Luis Ostrosky, division director and professor, infectious diseases at the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Texas in Houston, said he was discussing the issue of parties with his wife when MarketWatch came calling. “I feel that it’s OK to have small gatherings or two to three families,” Ostrosky said.

However, he added some important caveats: “Where everyone is vaccinated and/or boosted, where people understand that if they don’t feel well they should stay at home, and where there’s good ventilation and plenty of space along with a few dispensers of alcohol gel. Outdoor spaces are a plus.”

Treat each party invitation separately, advises Preeti Malani, chief health officer in the divisions of infectious diseases and geriatric medicine at the University of Michigan and a fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. “Yes, I would consider going to a party with multiple households,” she told MarketWatch.

It’s safer to say no, she said, but staying home comes with increased isolation. “If party goers traveled for the Christmas holiday, I might consider that risk, which can be managed with additional testing.  If younger kids are coming — not yet eligible for vaccination — you might also consider testing depending on risk.”

Don’t be afraid to ask if everyone is vaccinated. “The better you know your fellow partygoers, the easier it is to know that everyone is fully vaccinated,” Malani said. “It could be a bit awkward to ask for documentation but reasonable to set this out as an expectation and a way to help reassure everyone.”

Poland might be persuaded to RSVP depending on where the party’s at. “Last year, the target was relatively stable,” he said. “Now the target is far less stable. It’s such a moving target. If I were in New York City, no way would I go. If I were in Podunk, Kansas, I might consider going.”

The deal will bring down Nestlé’s stake in L’Oréal to 20.1% from the previous 23.3% level, marking the Swiss company’s first time to reduce its shareholding in L’Oréal since 2014.

Analysts have for years anticipated a potential eventual exit by Nestle from L’Oréal. In 2017, the Nescafé maker’s relationship with L’Oréal came under particular scrutiny, as Third Point, a hedge fund headed by Daniel Loeb, launched a campaign to get Nestlé to sell its L’Oréal shares.

After the latest transaction, Nestlé will retain its two positions on the L’Oréal board of directors.

On the same day, Nestlé also unveiled a new share buyback program to repurchase 20 billion Swiss francs (US$21.6 billion) worth of shares between 2022 and 2024. The plan, expected to commence on Jan. 3, is subject to regulatory approvals and may be adjusted if any sizable acquisitions take place, Nestlé said.

Write to Yifan Wang at yifan.wang@wsj.com

Weibo, which operates a Twitter-like microblogging service and counts Sina Corp. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. as major shareholders, raised net proceeds of 1.38 billion Hong Kong dollars (US$177 million) in the offering. It intends to use proceeds to grow its user base and pursue acquisitions and investments, among others.

Weibo has been listed in the U.S. since late 2019. Its American depositary receipts on the Nasdaq have lost 18% this year.

The muted debut comes as a host of Chinese companies are rushing to wrap up deals in Hong Kong, with companies in industries ranging from real estate to healthcare raising billions of dollars in combined proceeds. Weibo is among one of many U.S.-listed Chinese technology companies that are opting for secondary listings as regulators increase their scrutiny.

Write to Yi Wei Wong at yiwei.wong@wsj.com

“Due to limited components and chips, it made no sense to work overtime on holidays and give extra pay for front-line workers,” Nikkei Asia quoted a supply-chain manager involved in the process. “That has never happened before.”

COVID-19-related disruptions to component plants in Vietnam and Malaysia contributed to the problems, Nikkei said.

Citing interviews with more than 20 industry executives, Nikkei reported Apple is falling millions of unit short of its newest iPhone and iPad devices, which were launched in September, and is missing out on billions of dollars of potential revenue.

Apple
AAPL,
+3.54%
will fall about 15 million units shy of its goal of making 230 million iPhones in 2021, Nikkei reported. While production of newer devices improved in November, production of older iPhones and iPads was significantly reduced as limited components were reallocated to new devices, the report said.

In October, Bloomberg News reported Apple would cut production goals after it anticipated falling short of its target of making 90 million iPhone 13 devices in the last three months of the year. Nikkei reported that number will be more like 83 million to 85 million units.

Nikkei said Apple declined to comment on the report.

Apple reported a rare quarterly revenue miss in October, blaming supply constraints. Bloomberg News last week reported Apple has warned suppliers that demand has slowed, and told vendors that orders might not come through on time, with production problems lingering into 2022. Still, analysts have predicted a strong holiday quarter for iPhone sales despite headwinds.

Apple shares are up 29% year to date, and up 38% over the past 12 months, compared to gains of 17% and 18%, respectively, by the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
+1.40%,
of which it is a component.

They found the vaccine generated one-fortieth of the infection-fighting antibodies against omicron compared with its performance against the original version of the virus. That is a big reduction but doesn’t mean the variant can escape vaccines completely, said Alex Sigal, the virologist who led the study.

“The vaccine takes a hit but it is not a completely different ballgame,” he said on a video call with reporters. He said the findings are preliminary and estimates of effectiveness may change as more data becomes available. His team’s experiment didn’t study other types of immune responses that scientists say are critical in determining vaccines’ overall potency against disease.

The results, published late Tuesday, came as government officials and scientists said that omicron is weeks away from becoming the dominant strain in parts of Europe and other evidence from the U.K. and Norway suggested that vaccines may offer significant protection against severe illness from the variant.

An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.

Also popular on WSJ.com:

Companies plan big raises for workers in 2022.

Stuck at port for 54 days: How one ship’s delays hurt small businesses.

Microsoft
MSFT,
+2.68%
will have to adjust its hiring process to ensure it isn’t unlawfully requiring non-U.S. citizen applicants to provide specific immigration documents to prove they don’t require sponsorship for a work visa.

Employers are required to verify if a worker has permission to work in the U.S. but prohibits them from asking for documents when not required or from specifying the types of valid documentation.

The company will have to train its employees who are responsible for verifying and reverifying workers’ permission to work in the country, and the company will be subject to monitoring and reporting requirements.

A spokesperson for Microsoft didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The DOJ first received a report that the company asked a job applicant for a permanent resident card while applying for a job at Microsoft’s Redmond, Washington facility.

“The investigation found evidence that the company repeatedly asked lawful permanent residents, refugees and asylees to undergo an evaluation of their need for Microsoft to sponsor them for an employment-based visa even though they do not require sponsorship to work in the United States,” the company said.

As well as the changes to its hiring practices and process, the settlement requires Microsoft to pay a civil penalty of $17,352 to the U.S. Treasury.

“The department also hopes that this settlement will inspire other employers to ensure that their own policies and practices are not discriminatory,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said.

The move by Meta comes at a time when many companies are rethinking return-to-office plans because of uncertainty about the omicron variant and an uptick in COVID-19 cases. Companies including Ford Motor Co.
F,
+3.85%
 and Alphabet Inc.’s
GOOGL,
+2.87%
 
GOOG,
+2.95%
Google have delayed required return-to-office dates in recent days, while others are moving ahead with existing plans.

Many of Meta’s U.S. offices, including its Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters, have reopened at a limited capacity in recent months. The office-deferral program, available to employees in the U.S. and Canada, is meant for staffers who want to put off an office return for three to five months, but who don’t want to opt in to long-term remote work.

Meta requires anyone working at its U.S. offices to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The company had more than 68,100 full-time employees world-wide as of Sept. 30, and about half of its workforce is based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.

Also popular on WSJ.com:

Companies plan big raises for workers in 2022.

Stuck at port for 54 days: How one ship’s delays hurt small businesses.

One early question on the company’s brief conference call to discuss the news came from an analyst who asked whether or not the IPO was going to be a funding mechanism for Intel’s so-called IDM [integrated device manufacturing] 2.0 plan, which is what the chip maker calls its new manufacturing strategy. In October, Intel said its plans to spend approximately $25 billion to $28 billion on building more manufacturing facilities as part of its push to become a bigger player in contract manufacturing.

“There will be some cash benefits, but overall, Intel sees that we have the balance sheet, the debt ratings, the cash flows from our business, that we can execute our IDM strategy with or without this transition,” Intel Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger said Tuesday, adding that Intel wants to unlock the faster-growing Mobileye. “But we are anxious to see it fully realized in the marketplace, this is a unique asset.”

The report in the Journal mentioned a possible valuation of Mobileye above $50 billion, citing executives familiar with the matter. On the conference call, however, Intel executives would not discuss a valuation at this stage. And a few analysts were a bit dubious about that number anyway.

“We don’t really know what it’s worth, though in this market, and given the nature of the asset, it’s probably fair to argue that Mobileye is likely worth more than the ~$15 billion Intel paid for it in 2017,” Bernstein Research analyst Stacy Rasgon wrote in a note Tuesday.

But Intel is going to need some extra cash. After it first disclosed its capital spending plans, a few analysts have become concerned about its cash needs. In October, BMO Capital Markets analyst Ambrish Srivastava downgraded Intel, noting he was worried about Intel’s cash position amid its big expansion plans.

“We see Intel barely being able to cover its dividend commitments given the depressed FCF over the next two years,” he wrote at the time, adding that he was not worried about the dividend because of Intel’s capacity to take on new debt.

In a Tuesday note, Raymond James analyst Chris Caso wrote: “While we consider to be a shrewd move, it doesn’t change our thesis on Intel — the value in Mobileye is still small in relation to the overall company, and while the deal will provide much-needed cash, we aren’t confident in a return on that cash investment due to the significant challenges Intel faces in catching up on
manufacturing.”

Clearly, Mobileye is a hidden jewel within Intel, and as Gelsinger described it having created advanced driver-assistance systems, it also is expected to see big potential in autonomous driving. Intel is wise to capitalize on that asset, but it’s not clear how much value it will be able to realize, as it works to get back to its former manufacturing supremacy.