Nick Reiner, the son of renowned filmmaker Rob Reiner, is seeking access to funds from a trust established by his parents to aid in his legal defense. He stands accused of the tragic murders of both his father and mother.
In a court filing on Monday, Reiner’s legal team petitioned a Los Angeles County court, alleging that the trustees managing the trust have unjustly denied him access to the funds he claims are rightfully his. The 32-year-old asserts that these resources are crucial for building his defense case.
“Nick loved his parents deeply and is grieving their loss. This trust litigation is separate from the criminal case and does not address the facts surrounding his parents’ deaths,” the petition states. “Nick, like any accused individual, is presumed innocent and should be able to utilize his own financial assets for his defense.”
The petition further notes that the trust holds assets exceeding $1.5 million, though the precise value remains undisclosed by the attorney responsible for the fund.
Rob Reiner, an influential director, and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, a photographer and producer, were tragically found stabbed to death in their luxurious Brentwood home on December 14. Nick Reiner was arrested shortly thereafter and has entered a plea of not guilty to the double murder charges.
Initially, Reiner was represented by prominent attorney Alan Jackson. However, Jackson withdrew from the case less than a month into his representation, citing undisclosed reasons. Court documents indicate that Reiner’s siblings, Jake and Romy Reiner, had initially agreed to cover Jackson’s legal fees but later changed their decision.
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Reiner retained high-profile private lawyer Alan Jackson to represent him, but less than a month later Jackson left the case for reasons he said he couldn’t share. The new filing reveals that Reiner’s siblings, Jake and Romy Reiner, had initially agreed to pay for Jackson, but reversed course.
In a declaration included with the petition, Jackson said “my firm stands ready, willing, and able to resume representation of Mr. Reiner” if the funds become available.
The filing says that apart from the larger Reiner family trust, which is not at issue, Rob and Michele Reiner established smaller individual trusts for Nick Reiner and his siblings. It says they left “unambiguous instructions” in Nick Reiner’s trust, established in 1993, that he was to receive half its money when he turned 30 and the rest at 35.
But, the filing says, Reiner never received the funds he was entitled to at 30, and that the trustee overseeing them since February — attorney Paul R. Kanin — has given “a shifting series of excuses and justifications” to deny Reiner the money, including concerns about Reiner’s competence that have no bearing on a payout that is mandatory.
Reiner says he should also get the money he was to receive at 35 immediately because his defense and his need for basic necessities in jail require it.
Kanin did not immediately respond to an after-hours email seeking comment.
Proceedings in Reiner’s murder case are moving slowly. He is scheduled to return to court for a pretrial hearing in September. He is eligible for the death penalty, but District Attorney Nathan Hochman has said his office has not yet decided whether to seek it.
Authorities have said nothing about possible motives, and leaks in the case have been virtually nonexistent on both sides. A court order has kept most details of the autopsy secret. Many of the most basic questions about the killing remain unanswered publicly.
On the day he left the case, Jackson, speaking outside court, declared adamantly that “pursuant to the laws of California, Nick Reiner is not guilty of murder.”
In April, Jake Reiner gave his first detailed account of the experience of losing his parents and having his brother at the center of it, calling it “a living nightmare” that is “too devastating to comprehend.”
Rob Reiner was a prolific director whose work included some of the most memorable and endlessly watchable movies of the 1980s and ’90s. His credits included “This is Spinal Tap,” “Stand By Me,” “A Few Good Men” and “When Harry Met Sally… ,” during the production of which he met photographer Michele Singer. They wed soon after and were married for 36 years.
