LOS ANGELES — Nick Reiner, son of acclaimed filmmaker Rob Reiner, is currently seeking access to funds from a trust set up by his parents, as he faces charges of their murder. Reiner claims he requires these funds for his legal defense in the ongoing case.
Attorneys representing the 32-year-old Reiner filed a petition in a Los Angeles County court on Monday, arguing that the trustees are withholding the funds without valid legal grounds. They assert that Nick Reiner is entitled to these resources to aid in his defense.
“Nick loved his parents deeply and is heartbroken by their tragic deaths. The legal proceedings surrounding the trust do not concern the circumstances of their deaths,” the petition states. “As with any accused individual, Nick is presumed innocent until proven guilty and deserves the right to defend himself using assets that legally belong to him.”
Rob Reiner, a prominent director, along with his wife Michele Singer Reiner, a photographer and producer, were tragically found dead in their Brentwood home on December 14. They had been fatally stabbed. Nick Reiner was arrested shortly after and has since entered a plea of not guilty to the charges of murder.
Initially, Nick Reiner hired renowned attorney Alan Jackson to represent him. However, Jackson withdrew from the case within a month, citing reasons he could not disclose. The recent court filing indicates that Reiner’s siblings, Jake and Romy Reiner, initially agreed to cover Jackson’s legal fees but later decided against it.
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.
The petition says the trust has at least $1.5 million in assets, but that Kanin will not share the exact amount of its value.
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.
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