Nick Reiner says he has been unable to access “even $5” from his multimillion-dollar family trust while jailed on accusations that he murdered his parents, Hollywood figures Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner.
Reiner, who has been held in a Los Angeles jail since December 2025, is intensifying an unusual legal dispute over a trust estimated to be worth about $1.6 million.
The 33-year-old contends that funds he believes are legally his remain out of reach as he awaits trial in the deaths of Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner.
His siblings, however, remain strongly opposed to allowing the trust money to be used toward his legal defense.
In two court filings submitted Thursday, Reiner’s attorneys said their client cannot use any of the money for everyday purchases at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility commissary.
“In the meantime, Nick still has not been able to access even $5 from his trust to buy basic subsistence items from the jail commissary,” lawyers Anita P. Wu and Geoffrey A. Neri wrote.
The latest filing underscores a deepening family rift over the trust, which Rob and Michele Reiner created for their son during his infancy.
Sources previously told the Daily Mail that Reiner’s brother and sister, Jake and Romy Reiner, are aligned in their refusal to help him use his inheritance as a financial reserve in defending against allegations that he brutally killed their parents.
Nick Reiner, 32, says he cannot access “even $5” from his approximately $1.6 million trust for jail commissary purchases while awaiting trial on allegations that he murdered his parents.
Romy Reiner, left, and Jake Reiner, right, have emerged as key figures in the family dispute as their brother Nick, center, seeks access to the trust their parents established.
Hollywood director Rob Reiner, 78, and wife Michele, 70, established the trust for Nick when he was an infant; he is now accused of murdering them at their Los Angeles home
‘It’s not an issue of love or not, it’s an issue of how much do you allow someone to take from you,’ a longtime Reiner family friend said.
‘Knowing that he’s using their inheritance for his defense is just too much. They won’t allow that if they can help it.’
Sources previously told the Daily Mail that Jake, 34, and Romy, 28, have felt the need to establish strict boundaries as they grieve their parents.
‘I wouldn’t say [they] abandoned him for good,’ one family friend said. ‘I’d say that they are setting boundaries that are appropriate for their healing, and Nick is not a part of their healing.’
Another source said the siblings were ‘not budging’ over the trust dispute.
Their older half-sister Tracy Reiner, 61, Rob’s adopted daughter from his marriage to Penny Marshall, was also said to support keeping Nick from accessing the inheritance.
Nick’s attorneys insist, however, that the dispute is fundamentally about his right to use money that already belongs to him while he is still presumed innocent.
‘What the Successor Trustee asks this Court to do is enter an order freezing a presumed-innocent man’s own untainted money until after the trial at which his liberty will be decided,’ they wrote.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced this week that prosecutors will not seek the death penalty against Nick, who still faces life without parole if convicted
Rob and Michele are pictured with children Jake, center, Romy and Nick, far right, years before the family was torn apart by the couple’s killings and the murder case against Nick
Rob and Michele were found dead at their Brentwood home in December 2025, with prosecutors accusing their son Nick of fatally stabbing them after lying in wait
Reiner has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder over the December 14, 2025 deaths of his father, acclaimed filmmaker Rob Reiner, 78, and his photographer-producer mother Michele, 70, at their Brentwood home.
Prosecutors allege the couple were stabbed to death and Reiner was indicted in July with special circumstances including lying in wait, along with an allegation that he used a knife.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced this week that prosecutors would not seek the death penalty. Reiner could still face life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted.
But while that criminal case advances, an increasingly acrimonious second battle is raging over the money Reiner wants to spend defending himself.
The Nick Reiner Children’s Trust was created by Rob and Michele in 1993 and names Nick as its sole beneficiary.
His lawyers say the trust contains approximately $1.6 million and argue that at least $558,000 should have been handed to him when he turned 30 on September 14, 2023 – more than two years before his parents were killed.
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‘Nick turned 30 on September 14, 2023,’ his attorneys wrote. ‘By the Successor Trustee’s own calculation, at least $558,000 became due and payable to him that day. His parents were alive. No one had accused him of anything.’
That timing is now at the heart of his legal argument.
Those overseeing the trust have cited California’s so-called Slayer Statute, which can prevent someone who unlawfully kills another person from financially benefiting from that death.
Rob Reiner is seen with son Nick in May 2016, at an event to celebrate their film Being Charlie
The moment that Nick is arrested in Santa Monica, after fleeing to a motel following the murder of his parents
But Reiner’s attorneys contend that the disputed $558,000 became his years before Rob and Michele died.
‘The Slayer Statute, the sole remaining basis for withholding this money, takes away what a person receives as a result of someone’s death,’ they argued. ‘It does not implicate money that became Nick’s years earlier.’
His attorneys also claim at least $325,017.49 of the trust originated with his grandfather, comedy legend Carl Reiner, who died in 2020.
‘Nick is not accused of causing his death,’ they wrote. ‘Money that was left to Nick by his grandfather is not money received by Nick from or through his parents.’
Reiner’s legal team has also launched an attack on the amount being spent fighting his attempts to access the money.
They claim attorneys representing the trustees have already racked up more than $250,000 in legal fees – paid from the very trust Reiner is trying to unlock.
‘Third, it is Nick who is paying for the fight to keep his money from him,’ his attorneys complained.
They warned: ‘Every month this continues, there is less left – for Nick, and for anyone who might ever claim it.’
The filings also allege that former trustee Paul R Kanin agreed in April to put money into Reiner’s jail commissary account but never followed through.
According to Reiner’s lawyers, Kanin’s attorney requested instructions for making the deposits, which were provided on April 21.
‘No deposit was ever made,’ they claimed. ‘Kanin never withdrew the commitment; it was simply never honored.’
Rob and Michele Reiner are pictured in 2013 at a movie premiere in New York. The money they placed in a trust for Nick is now at the center of a bitter court fight
Kanin, who resigned as trustee in May after serving for approximately 15 weeks, has denied breaching his fiduciary duties and maintains that he acted prudently.
Successor trustee Jodi Pais Montgomery has also opposed releasing the money while the murder prosecution remains unresolved, arguing that the trust should be preserved until it is clear whether the Slayer Statute applies.
Reiner’s attorneys say the financial freeze has far more serious consequences than leaving him unable to buy commissary items.
High-powered attorney Alan Jackson initially represented Reiner following his arrest but withdrew from the criminal case in January, citing ‘circumstances beyond our control.’
Reiner is now represented by a public defender at taxpayer expense, but has said he wants to rehire Jackson if he gains access to his trust.
‘The harm here is severe and ongoing,’ his attorneys wrote.
‘Nick has been deprived of the use of his own money and has been unable to pay for criminal defense counsel and experts since January 2026, prejudicing his ability to defend against double homicide charges with special circumstances.’
Jackson has indicated he could return if the funding dispute is resolved.
‘He’s made a determination that he wants to be able to use his funds that are in his trust account to decide on his criminal counsel,’ Jackson previously said.