Rob Reiner’s son wants access to an inheritance fund set up by his parents, to pay for his defense against charges he killed them.
Nick Reiner, 32, was charged with two counts of first degree murder and four other felonies after the Hollywood director and his wife Michele Singer Reiner were found dead at their L.A. mansion in December.
He has now submitted a petition seeking access to the fund, said to be worth around $1.5 million.
“Nick loved his parents, and he is devastated by their deaths,” the submission to Los Angeles County Court on his behalf read.
“But the facts about what did and did not happen to them are not at issue in this trust litigation. 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.”
The filing says the couple established smaller individual trusts for Nick Reiner and his siblings, with “unambiguous instructions” to receive half its money when he turned 30 and the rest at 35.
But the submission claims that 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 him the money.
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.
The defendant complains that he was not able to hire famed defense attorney Alan Jackson without the money to hand, forcing the latter to withdraw from his case and leaving him dependent on the help of a public defender.
Reiner claims that Kanin had indicated that the funds could not be released until his guilt or innocence had been established in court. He insists he needs the money now to pay for his defense, saying that “time is of the essence.”
“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,” the petition reads.
“The harm is irreparable and it grows with each day the trustee withholds funds that are already Nick’s.
“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.”
Prosecutors allege that Reiner, who has a long history of substance abuse issues, fatally stabbed his parents following an argument at a celebrity Christmas party hosted by comedian Conan O’Brien last year before fleeing the scene.
L.A. County District Attorney Nathan Hochman has said he could face the death penalty if he is convicted over the killings.
Rob Reiner, himself the son of comedy legend Carl Reiner, was a beloved figure known for such popular films as This is Spinal Tap (1984), Stand By Me (1986), The Princess Bride (1987), When Harry Met Sally (1989), Misery (1990) and A Few Good Men (1992), all of which were box offices smashes.
A decade before his death, he had collaborated with his son on Being Charlie (2015), a thinly-veiled account of their own father-son tensions arising from the younger man’s battle with addiction.
Michele Singer Reiner was a respected photographer and producer, who worked with her husband on what proved to be his final film, a belated sequel to Spinal Tap released last year.
Nick Reiner’s older brother Jake Reiner has since written a highly emotional Substack essay on the loss he and their younger sister Romy suffered as a result of last year’s tragedy.
“I was robbed of so many things that day,” he wrote in April. “My parents won’t be at my wedding, they won’t get to hold their future grandchild, and they won’t get to see me have the successful career I’m still seeking.
“It simultaneously breaks my heart and enrages me.”
