Lawyers for Nick Reiner, who has been charged with the murder of his parents, filed legal papers on Monday requesting money from a trust fund of more than $1.5 million to help finance his defense.
Mr. Reiner, the youngest son of the Hollywood director Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner, pleaded not guilty to the killings and is currently being represented by a public defender. The new legal petition, filed in probate court in Los Angeles, indicates that Mr. Reiner wishes to hire a private lawyer and cannot afford to do so without the help of a fund established by his parents when he was a baby.
The trust, according to the court papers, stipulates that Mr. Reiner, 32, should have received one-half of the money on his 30th birthday, and that the remaining balance should be paid out when he turns 35. The filing says that for unclear reasons he never received the initial payment.
“Like anyone accused of a crime, Nick is presumed innocent, and he is entitled to mount his defense with the resources that are lawfully his own,” Anita Wu, a lawyer who is representing Mr. Reiner in the financial dispute, wrote in the petition.
The petition says that, in addition to the legal fees, Mr. Reiner also needs access to the fund to buy basic items such as socks and soap in the commissary of the Twin Towers Correctional Facility, the county jail in downtown Los Angeles where he is begin held.
A representative tasked with managing his trust — which is separate from a set of larger family trusts — did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But in an email attached to the filing, a lawyer for that representative, Paul Kanin, rejected Mr. Reiner’s demand for immediate access to the money.
“We do not agree that an immediate outright distribution is appropriate,” wrote the lawyer, Stefanie Cutler, “given unresolved concerns the Successor Trustee has regarding Nick’s capacity to make sound decisions and adequately protect his own interests.”
Mr. Reiner has a history of serious mental illness and drug addiction. At different times, he has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder, and was placed into a yearlong mental health conservatorship in 2020.
On Dec. 14, 2025, Rob Reiner, the director of movies such as “This Is Spinal Tap” and “The Princess Bride,” and his wife were found stabbed to death in their Los Angeles home. Nick Reiner was arrested soon afterward and charged with two counts of first-degree murder. If convicted, he faces the possibility of life in prison without a chance of parole or the death penalty.
Mr. Reiner’s petition says that if he is able to secure the money, he wants to rehire a prominent criminal defense lawyer, Alan Jackson, who represented him briefly after he was charged. Mr. Jackson, whose clients have included Karen Read and Kevin Spacey, removed himself from Mr. Reiner’s case only a few weeks after joining it, saying there were circumstances beyond his control.
In a declaration filed with Mr. Reiner’s petition, Mr. Jackson wrote that when he signed on to the case, Mr. Reiner’s siblings “agreed verbally” to help fund their brother’s defense. Not long after, Mr. Jackson wrote, a representative for the family “informed me that none of the anticipated third-party funding would be provided.”
Representatives for Mr. Reiner’s two siblings, Jake and Romy, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The petition asks for both tranches of Nick Reiner’s trust fund, minus the expenses of administering the trust. It argues that the manager of the trust can disburse money before Mr. Reiner turns 35 for his “support, maintenance, health and education.”
“Nick is currently awaiting trial on double homicide charges,” the filing says. “No use of his funds could be more important.”
The petition notes that Mr. Kanin, who has been managing the trust for several months, recently submitted his resignation, citing a conflict with the management of the family’s other trusts. The incoming trustee is Jodi Pais Montgomery, a professional fiduciary who once served as a conservator for Britney Spears. A lawyer representing her did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In April, Jake Reiner addressed the killing of his parents in a blog post, writing that they “were the last people in the world to deserve what happened to them.”
“Sure, any loss of a parent is devastating,” he went on, “but nothing compares to losing both of them at the same time and, on top of that, having your brother be at the center of it. It’s almost too impossible to process.”
