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Nick Reiner, son of Rob and Michele Reiner, has petitioned a Los Angeles probate court for release of trust funds in order to pay for his legal defense in the murders of his parents.
Reiner’s attorneys argue that he
should be able access a trust that was set up by his parents shortly after his birth in 1993. According to the petition, he is the sole beneficiary of assets totaling more than $1.5 million.
Rob Reiner, the famed director, and his wife and producer Michele, were found were found stabbed in their Brentwood home in December. Nick Reiner has been held in Los Angeles County jail without bail since then on two counts of capital murder. He is represented by a public defender and has pleaded not guilty.
“Nick loved his parents, and he is devastated by their deaths,” the petition states. “But the facts about what did and did not happen to them are not at issue in this Trust litigation.”
Reiner was initially represented by a private attorney, Alan Jackson, who withdrew from the case in January. According to the petition documents, Jackson had initially been assured by Reiner’s siblings, Jake and Romy, and a family representative that his fees would be paid by the family. But in late December, Jackson was told that the funds would not be forthcoming and was forced to withdraw from the case, according to the filing.
The petition states that Nick Reiner still wants Jackson to represent him, and that Jackson is still willing to do so if funds can be obtained. But according to the petition, the trustee, Paul Kanin, has been unwilling to release the funds due to “unresolved concerns” about Reiner’s “capacity to make sound decisions and adequately protect his own interests.”
Reiner has offered to have the legal fee payments go directly to Jackson’s law firm. He is also seeking to access the funds so that he can obtain modest deposits to the jail commissary.
A new trustee, Jodi Montgomery, has been recently appointed to take over the administration of Reiner’s trust. According to the filing, Montgomery has retained a consultant and asked to meet with Reiner as she looks into “how we can best help Nick with what limited trust funds he does have, knowing that some will need to be preserved to benefit him for the rest of his life.”
According to the petition, Reiner was supposed to receive half of the funds on his 30th birthday, which did not happen. The balance is due to be disbursed to him when he turns 35 in two years, though the trustee would have discretion to distribute funds sooner than that.
“The stakes for Nick could not be higher,” the petition states. “There is no justification for withholding anything in the interim beyond small sums for trust administration. No use of Nick’s funds could be more critical than Nick’s legal fees and his basic support while incarcerated.”
The petition does not concern the “far larger” trusts that comprise the Reiner family estate, of which Nick Reiner is also a “full and equal” beneficiary. According to the petition, Kanin has already made clear that no part of the Reiner Family Trusts will be disbursed to Nick Reiner until after the criminal case is resolved.
Under California’s “slayer statute,” Reiner would be barred from inheriting any portion of his parents’ estate if he is convicted of having murdered them. However, the trust petition argues that Nick Reiner is entitled to a presumption of innocence, and suggests that the family trusts could be subject to future litigation.
Reiner’s mental state at the time of his parents’ deaths has been a source of speculation, but has not yet become an issue in the criminal case. According to the filing, the trustee advised that concerns about his alleged “incompetence” “warrant further investigation before any substantial distribution can prudently be made.”
Reiner’s trust lawyers argue that he is not incompetent under the definition of the trust, which requires a judicial declaration or the written statement of two licensed physicians.
