Nick Reiner’s request to access his $1.5 million trust has been formally blocked by trustees citing California’s slayer statute.
Nick, 32, the son of director Rob Reiner and photographer Michele Singer Reiner, petitioned in June to tap the trust to cover his legal fees and commissary costs while he awaits trial on two counts of first-degree murder for their deaths. The trustees filed court documents this week denying that request, pointing to the state law that prevents anyone who “feloniously and intentionally kills the decedent” from inheriting property, interest, or benefits under a will or trust.
“California has enacted no exception permitting a killer’s inheritance to be used for criminal defense costs,” Lauriann Wright, a lawyer for professional fiduciary Jodi Pais Montgomery, wrote in the documents obtained by the New York Times.
Wright also wrote that under the slayer statute, Nick’s portion of the trust would instead be transferred to his siblings, Romy and Jake Reiner. She acknowledged that Nick is presumed innocent pending trial, but releasing the funds to him now would be “irreversible.”
In a statement to the Times, Nick’s lawyer, Anita P. Wu, rejected the trustees’ legal reasoning. “The slayer statute requires a determination, not a mere accusation,” she said. “Nick is presumed innocent and has been convicted of nothing.”
Nick’s original petition stated he was due half of his trust when he turned 30 in 2023 and the remainder when he turns 35 in 2028. Because the trust is “irrevocable,” he claimed the trustee lacked authority to withhold funds from a beneficiary even if deemed incompetent. Nick has been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
The slayer statute, codified in California Probate Code, treats a killer as having predeceased their victim for inheritance purposes. Legal experts note that even without a criminal conviction, a probate court can separately determine whether a killing was intentional and felonious, which would trigger the statute’s bar.
California estate planning attorney Scott Schomer said that Nick’s siblings could potentially request that a trustee disperse funds to ensure he has adequate legal representation. “Sort of like a CEO to shareholders, a trustee works for the beneficiaries,” Schomer said. “Maybe they want to see their brother defended,” he added, acknowledging Nick’s documented mental health and substance abuse struggles.
In the viral moment that led to these legal proceedings, Rob and Michele Reiner were found stabbed to death in their Brentwood, California home last December. The filmmaker was 78 and the photographer was 70. Their death certificates stated they died within “minutes” of receiving “multiple sharp force injuries” with a “knife, by another.” Nick was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder. In February, the screenwriter pleaded not guilty. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole or the death penalty.
Nick had publicly acknowledged his struggles with drug addiction and homelessness in the past, and he and his father had collaborated on the 2016 film “Being Charlie,” which depicted a young man’s substance abuse battles. Sources said that Nick had been acting erratically at a party hosted by comedian Conan O’Brien shortly before the deaths, with one insider saying he was “freaking everyone out, acting crazy, kept asking people if they were famous.”
Nick’s next court appearance is scheduled in Los Angeles.