Rob and Michele Reiner’s son Nick, who is accused of their murders, has made another entitled demand for his trust fund as he desperately tries to get the money he needs to pay his lawyer.
Reiner, 32, has now requested access to the fortune his parents left him – specifically with added interest – to pay for his legal defense in his upcoming murder trial, according to a filing in California‘s Superior Court on Friday.
The double murder suspect has claimed multiple times in filings that $558,000 he was allowed to withdraw after his 30th birthday is being illegally withheld.
‘I did not give my consent to any Trustee of my Trust to withhold, defer or retain my Age-30 Distribution indefinitely,’ Reiner’s attorneys said in the new declaration, doubling down that the money should be given to him immediately.
Reiner went on to specifically recall conversations he allegedly had with his mother Michele about the trust before her death.
‘I did not ask or authorize my mother to give such consent on my behalf, and I do not recall signing or being asked to sign any document giving that consent,’ the filing continued.
‘I would like for my money to be released and I “desire to receive” it, with the accrued interest and income.’
There is a hearing scheduled to discuss Nick Reiner’s trust fund saga on Monday morning in Los Angeles, in front of judge Ruben Garcia.
The 32-year-old was indicted by a grand jury on two murder charges, facing life in prison, following the deaths of his parents, Rob and Michele, who were found with their throats slit in their $13.5 million mansion in December.
Nick Reiner, 32, demanded he be granted access to the fortune his parents left him , with added interest, to pay for his legal defense, and claimed the funds had been illegally withheld
The deaths of Rob and Michele, seen above, rocked Hollywood. They were found with their throats slit in their $13.5 million mansion in December
Reiner hired high-profile lawyer Alan Jackson, but couldn’t afford to keep him. He has since been represented by a public defender, and seeks to rehire Jackson as he awaits trial
Reiner’s demands comes as the son of the Hollywood icons hired his high-profile lawyer Alan Jackson, but couldn’t afford to keep him on the case.
He has since been represented by a public defender, and is seeking to rehire Jackson as he awaits his upcoming trial.
The trust fund Reiner hopes to gain access to was opened by his parents when he was a baby, and has since grown to $1.6 million.
Jodi Pais Montgomery, the professional fiduciary that oversees the trust, has refused to pay out a single dollar while he is accused of murder.
The trustee cited California’s ‘slayer statute’ that blocks anyone inheriting money from someone they ‘feloniously and intentionally’ killed.
‘California has enacted no exception permitting a killer’s inheritance to be used for criminal defense costs,’ its lawyer Lauriann Wright wrote in court papers.
‘The Slayer Statute question was not a pretext for delay, but a genuine and unresolved legal issue that any prudent trustee administering this Trust would need to address before distributing,’ lawyers for the former manager of the trust wrote on Thursday in a response to Reiner’s request for $558,000 that he says he is owed from his trust.
‘Nick’s sense of urgency is real, but it did not arise in a vacuum. It arises from the deaths of his parents, the very settlors of the Trust at issue, and Nick is presently accused of causing those deaths.’
The fund would instead be paid to Reiner’s siblings Romy and Jake, to whom Montgomery also has a fiduciary responsibility, the filing stated.
Though Reiner is presumed innocent, the payments from his fund would be ‘irreversible,’ Wright wrote.
Public defender Anita Wu countered that as Reiner was not convicted, the law didn’t apply. Reiner has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder.
Reiner, seen right with his father left, claimed he ‘did not consent’ any trustee ‘withhold, defer or retain’ his trust fortune, and said he signed no document handing over that consent
Rob Reiner (second from left) and his wife Michele Singer Reiner (left) with their children Jake, Romy and Nick in 2014
‘The slayer statute requires a determination, not a mere accusation. Nick is presumed innocent and has been convicted of nothing,’ she said.
The battle for the trust money started in June after Reiner petitioned for the money in probate court, the Times reported.
At the time, he accused successor trustee Paul Kanin of failing to pay out the $558,000 he claimed he was owed on his 30th birthday.
Reiner was not due to receive any more money from the trust until he turned 35, but Wu noted he could be paid early for ‘support, maintenance, health and education.’
The money would allow him to buy basic items at the jail commissary as well as fund his defense.
‘Nick is incarcerated and his basic needs – housing, food, medical care – are being met by the State,’ lawyers for the Kanin said, the Times reported.
‘He is represented in the underlying criminal matter by the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office, appointed counsel to whom Nick has a right and who continues to represent him.
‘To the extent Nick’s damages theory rests on the unavailability of private counsel of his choosing, that theory fails as a matter of law: a criminal defendant has no entitlement to the specific private counsel of his choice at the trust’s expense, and the loss of that preference is not a cognizable trust-related harm.’
Reiner in June claimed the trustee ‘has offered a shifting series of excuses and justifications’ for not turning over the funds.
These included ‘unsubstantiated “concerns” about Nick’s so-called competence to “manage a trust”‘ despite the terms his parents set up.
He argued he needed Jackson to avoid ‘further jeopardizing my defense in the criminal matter’ as he has no other source of funding for his legal bills or basic supplies like soap and socks while behind bars.
The battle for the trust money began in June after Reiner accused successor trustee Paul Kanin of failing to pay the $558,000 he claimed he was owed on his 30th birthday
The Hollywood icons were found with their throats slit in their Brentwood, California, home, seen above, in December 2025
The trustee cited California’s ‘slayer statute’ that blocks anyone inheriting money from someone they ‘feloniously and intentionally’ killed. The fund would instead be paid to Reiner’s siblings Romy, seen left, and Jake, seen right
‘Every additional week of delay is a week in which the counsel of his choice cannot investigate or prepare on his behalf – prejudice to his defense that cannot be undone,’ Reiner’s lawyers claimed.
‘The harm is irreparable and it grows with each day the trustee withholds funds that are already Nick’s.
‘In the meantime, for reasons unknown to Petitioner, the Trustee continues to deplete Nick’s funds by paying lawyers to raise one reason after another for holding on to Nick’s money for another two years, all of which violate the plain terms of the Trust.’
Reiner has pleaded not guilty to six felony charges – two of first-degree murder, two of special circumstances involving multiple murder, and two counts of special circumstances using a deadly weapon.
He was earlier seen having a loud argument with his father at a holiday party thrown by TV host Conan O’Brien hours before his parents’ bodies were found by his younger sister, Romy.
Reiner has a long history of mental health and substance abuse issues and was living in a guesthouse on the grounds of his parents’ home at the time.
The new indictment added the claim that Reiner lay in wait for the chance to kill his parents, a special circumstance that could make him eligible for life without parole or even the death penalty if he is convicted.
Nathan Hochman, the LA County District Attorney, has said that the death penalty is on the table for Reiner if he is convicted.
Reiner has been locked up without bail since his arrest and will next face court in September.
