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Rob Reiner's son, Nick Reiner, is seeking unpaid money from a fund his parents set up, saying he needs it to help him defend himself against murder charges.
The request filed by the 32-year-old's lawyers in Los Angeles County court on Monday says that the trustees in charge of the funds denied him without legal reasons, and he needs and should get them now.
“Nick loved his parents, and is devastated by their deaths. But the facts of what happened and what didn't happen to them have nothing to do with this case,” the petition said. “Like anyone accused of a crime, Nick is presumed innocent, and has the right to defend himself with the resources that are legally his.”
Hollywood director and star Rob Reiner and his wife, photographer and producer Michele Singer Reiner, were stabbed to death in their home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles on Dec. 14, 2025.
Nick Reiner was arrested two hours later and has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder.
Nick Reiner, the son of director Rob Reiner and photographer Michele Singer Reiner, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder for killing his parents last year. The district attorney says they have not yet decided whether they will pursue the death penalty in this case.
Reiner retained high-profile private attorney Alan Jackson to represent him, but less than a month later, Jackson dropped the case for reasons he said he could not share. The filing of the new petition reveals that Reiner's siblings, Jake and Romy Reiner, initially agreed to pay Jackson's fees, but later postponed the course.
In a statement filed with the complaint, Jackson said “my firm is ready, willing, and able to resume representing Mr. Reiner” if funds are available.
The filing says that despite the Reiner family's large trust, which has no problem, Rob and Michele Reiner set up small trusts for Nick Reiner and his siblings. It says they left “ambiguous instructions” to Nick Reiner's Trust, set up in 1993, that he would receive half of his money when he turned 30 and the rest at 35.
But, the filing says, Reiner never received the money he was entitled to when he was 30 years old and that the trustee who has been overseeing it since February — attorney Paul R. Kanin — has given a “changing series of excuses and reasons” to deny Reiner the money, including concerns about his ability to not have a mandatory payment.
The petition lists $1.5 million in assets
Reiner says he should also get the money he would have received at 35 as soon as possible because his defense and his need for basic needs in prison require it.
The petition says the trust has at least $1.5 million in assets, but Kanin would not share the exact amount.
Kanin did not immediately respond to an after-hours email seeking comment.
The trial for Reiner's murder is moving slowly. He is scheduled to return to court for a trial in September. He is eligible for the death penalty, but District Attorney Nathan Hochman said his office has not yet decided whether to seek it.
Authorities have not said anything about a possible motive, and there have been no leaks from either side of the case. A court order kept many details of the autopsy confidential. Many fundamental questions about the massacre remain publicly unanswered.
On the day he left the case, Jackson, speaking outside the courtroom, said firmly that “under 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 your center, calling it a “living nightmare” that was “too painful to understand.”
Rob Reiner was a prolific director whose work included some of the most memorable and timeless films of the 1980s and '90s. His credits are included This is Spine Tapping, Stand by Me again Beautiful Little Men. During the production of When Harry Met Sallymet photographer Michele Singer. Soon after that they got married and were married for 36 years.
