Nick Reiner, the 32-year-old son of director Rob Reiner, faces a legal fight on two fronts, a grand jury murder indictment and a trustee who says California law bars him from using his own inheritance to hire the attorney of his choice.
A Los Angeles County grand jury indicted Reiner on two counts of first-degree murder for the stabbing deaths of his father, Rob Reiner, 78, and his mother, Michele Singer Reiner, 70, at their $13.5 million Brentwood home on December 14, 2025. The indictment, returned July 20 and unsealed Wednesday, added a "lying in wait" special circumstance allegation, meaning prosecutors allege Reiner waited for his parents to fall asleep, then slashed their throats. He pleaded not guilty.
That allegation makes Reiner eligible for the death penalty if convicted. LA County District Attorney Nathan Hochman has said the death penalty remains "on the table," though prosecutors have not yet decided whether to seek it. At minimum, Reiner faces life in prison without parole.
But the second legal battle, the one over money, may shape the first. Reiner's parents opened a trust fund for him when he was a baby. Over three decades it grew to roughly $1.6 million. Reiner wants to use that money to rehire high-profile defense attorney Alan Jackson, who previously represented Karen Read and Kevin Spacey. He cannot currently afford Jackson and is instead represented by a public defender, Anita Wu. A hearing on whether the trust will release any funds is scheduled for Monday.
Jodi Pais Montgomery, the professional fiduciary who serves as trustee, has refused to pay out a cent. Her attorney, Lauriann Wright, filed court papers citing California's "slayer statute", a law that bars anyone who "feloniously and intentionally" killed another person from inheriting money from that person's estate. Wright argued in the filing:
"California has enacted no exception permitting a killer's inheritance to be used for criminal defense costs."
Wright also warned that any payments from the fund would be "irreversible." If Reiner were later convicted, the money could not be clawed back. And Montgomery has a fiduciary duty not only to Nick but also to his siblings, Romy and Jake Reiner, who stand to receive the trust's assets if the slayer statute applies.
The trustee's position rests on a straightforward reading of the law: a man accused of killing his parents should not be able to spend their money defending himself against that charge. Whether the statute applies before a conviction, however, is the contested question.
Public defender Anita Wu filed a counter-brief on Friday that challenged the trustee's reasoning head-on. Wu argued that the slayer statute requires a legal determination of guilt, not merely an accusation:
"The slayer statute requires a determination, not a mere accusation. Nick is presumed innocent and has been convicted of nothing."
Wu also argued the trustee cannot "retroactively erase" a $558,000 distribution that was due to Reiner when he turned 30. Wright, the trustee's attorney, countered that Reiner was aware of the payout at the time and chose not to take it. The next scheduled distribution would not come until Reiner turns 35.
Wu's filing included a declaration from Reiner himself.
"I did not give my consent to any trustee of my trust to withhold, defer or retain my age-30 distribution indefinitely as 'property of the trust.'"
Reiner also stated he needed the funds to avoid "further jeopardizing my defense in the criminal matter," adding that he has no other source of money, not even for basic supplies like soap and socks behind bars.
The trust dispute did not begin with the indictment. In June, Reiner's legal team filed court papers demanding the unpaid $558,000 and accusing Montgomery of dragging her feet. The filing alleged the trustee had offered a "shifting series of excuses and justifications" for withholding the money, including what Reiner's lawyers called "unsubstantiated 'concerns' about Nick's so-called competence to 'manage a trust'", despite terms his own parents set up.
That filing laid out the stakes in plain terms:
"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 went further, accusing the trustee of depleting the fund by hiring her own attorneys to block disbursement:
"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."
Nick claimed in court filings that both siblings, Romy and Jake, supported his effort to use the trust to pay for Jackson. No independent corroboration of that claim appears in the court record as reported.
The criminal case itself remains largely under seal, with few details about evidence or motive made public. What is known paints a grim picture. Rob and Michele Reiner were stabbed to death in their Brentwood home. Hours before their bodies were found, Nick and his father were seen having a loud argument at a holiday party thrown by television host Conan O'Brien. Romy Reiner, Nick's younger sister, discovered the bodies.
Nick was arrested within hours and has been held without bail ever since. Fox News reported that the indictment includes special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and lying in wait, on top of the two murder counts. The six total felony charges also include two counts alleging use of a dangerous and deadly weapon.
DA Hochman, as the Washington Examiner noted, framed the case in personal terms:
"This was a profound betrayal by someone who was loved and trusted by the very people he is accused of killing."
The grand jury indictment also carries a procedural advantage for prosecutors. Under California law, it allows the state to bypass a public preliminary hearing, the stage where defense attorneys typically get their first look at the prosecution's evidence in open court. Breitbart reported that prosecutors used this route, keeping much of their case under wraps for now.
The trust fight matters because of what it costs Reiner in the courtroom. Alan Jackson, the high-profile attorney who initially took the case, is no longer representing him. The Daily Mail reported that Reiner could not afford to keep Jackson, who had previously defended Karen Read and Kevin Spacey. Fox News reported that Jackson withdrew citing "circumstances beyond his and Nick's control."
Before leaving the case, Jackson had offered a forceful defense of his client. In a court petition, Reiner's legal team wrote:
"Nick loved his parents, and he is devastated by their deaths. But the facts about what did and did not happen to them are not at issue."
Jackson himself told the court at an earlier stage:
"What we've learned, and you can take this to the bank, is that pursuant to the laws of this state, pursuant to the law in California, Nick Reiner is not guilty of murder."
Now Reiner is represented by a public defender. Wu is competent enough to file aggressive motions, but the defense team's own filings make clear that Reiner believes his life depends on getting Jackson back, and that means getting the trust money released.
Reiner's next court appearance is scheduled for September. The Monday hearing on the trust could determine whether he walks into that courtroom with the attorney he wants or the one he was assigned.
Rob and Michele Reiner set up that trust fund for their son when he was a baby. The question a court must now answer is whether the law their state wrote will let him spend it trying to prove he did not kill them.
