Nick Reiner blocked from accessing trust fund ahead of murder trial

Nick Reiner , who was indicted for the murders of his parents, Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner, had a request for access to his over USD$1.5 million trust fund blocked.

A trustee for the fund said in court documents , viewed and obtained by Global News, that due to a California law known as the “slayer statute,” Reiner is prevented from using the funds to defend himself against the charges.

Reiner pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder with the special circumstance of multiple murders in the deaths of his parents in February.

The slayer statute prevents people from inheriting money from someone they “feloniously and intentionally” kill, according to the court documents.

The trustee also noted that if Reiner is convicted of killing his parents, he will be deemed to have predeceased them, and his siblings, Romy and Jake Reiner, would inherit his trust.

The professional fiduciary who oversees the trust fund Reiner’s parents created for him when he was a baby opposed the request to provide Reiner with more money from it.

“Successor Trustee Jodi Pais Montgomery is a professional fiduciary who took office on June 11, 2026 — years after the September 14, 2023 distribution of one-half of the principal of the Trust became due upon Nick turning age thirty under Paragraph 4.5 of the Trust (the “Age 30 Distribution”) and after the claimed acts and omissions of the prior trustees,” the legal documents said.

“Nick’s Petition asks the Court to compel immediate payment of the Age 30 Distribution (with interest), to compel discretionary distributions for a jail commissary account and for private criminal-defense fees, to construe the Trust, and to hold the trustees liable for breach. Each request rests on a single premise — that the Age 30 Distribution was wrongfully withheld from Nick. That premise is incorrect.”

The successor trustee is asking the court to determine whether and when the slayer statute applies and to instruct the trustee whether she may fund a nominal jail commissary account in the interim and to authorize a hold on the trust until the issue is resolved.

In a statement to the New York Times , Reiner’s lawyer, Anita P. Wu, rejected the assertion that the California law applies.

“The slayer statute requires a determination, not a mere accusation,” she said. “Nick is presumed innocent and has been convicted of nothing.”

Lawyers for Reiner also responded on Friday by filing a two-page declaration with Reiner’s signature, the outlet reports.

“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,'” he reportedly wrote.

“As I have stated in my petition and other documents, I would like for my money to be released,” Reiner reportedly added.