Rob Reiner’s son Nick seeks money from trust parents left him for his
defense in their killings
[June 10, 2026]
By ANDREW DALTON
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Rob Reiner's son Nick Reiner is seeking unpaid money
from a trust his parents established for him, saying he needs it to help
in his defense against charges that he killed them.
A petition filed by the 32-year-old Nick Reiner's civil attorneys in a
Los Angeles County court on Monday says that trustees overseeing the
funds have denied them to him without legal justification, and he needs
and should get them now.
“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 in this
Trust litigation,” the petition says. “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 director and Hollywood luminary Rob Reiner and his wife,
photographer and producer Michele Singer Reiner, were stabbed to death
in their home in the upscale Brentwood section of Los Angeles on Dec.
14. Nick Reiner was arrested hours later and has since pleaded not
guilty to two counts of murder.
Reiner retained high-profile private lawyer Alan Jackson to represent
him, but less than a month later Jackson left the case for reasons he
said he couldn't share. The new filing reveals that Reiner's siblings,
Jake and Romy Reiner, had initially agreed to pay for Jackson, but
reversed course.
In a declaration included with the petition, Jackson said “my firm
stands ready, willing, and able to resume representation of Mr. Reiner”
if the funds become available.
The filing says that apart from the larger Reiner family trust, which is
not at issue, Rob and Michele Reiner established smaller individual
trusts for Nick Reiner and his siblings. It says they left “unambiguous
instructions” in Nick Reiner's trust, established in 1993, that he was
to receive half its money when he turned 30 and the rest at 35.
But, the filing says, 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 Reiner the money, including concerns about
Reiner's competence that have no bearing on a payout that is mandatory.
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Nick Reiner pleads not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder
in the deaths of his parents, Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner,
with public defense attorney, Kimberly Green, during his arraignment
on murder charges for the deaths of his parents, Rob and Michele
Reiner, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026, in Los Angeles. (Chris Torres/Pool
Photo via AP , File)
 Reiner says he should also get the
money he was to receive at 35 immediately because his defense and
his need for basic necessities in jail require it.
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.
Kanin did not immediately respond to an after-hours email seeking
comment.
Proceedings in Reiner’s murder case are moving slowly. He is
scheduled to return to court for a pretrial hearing in September. He
is eligible for the death penalty, but District Attorney Nathan
Hochman has said his office has not yet decided whether to seek it.
Authorities have said nothing about possible motives, and leaks in
the case have been virtually nonexistent on both sides. A court
order has kept most details of the autopsy secret. Many of the most
basic questions about the killing remain unanswered publicly.
On the day he left the case, Jackson, speaking outside court,
declared adamantly that “pursuant to 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 the
center of it, calling it “a living nightmare” that is “too
devastating to comprehend.”
Rob Reiner was a prolific director whose work included some of the
most memorable and endlessly watchable movies of the 1980s and ’90s.
His credits included “This is Spinal Tap,” “Stand By Me,” “A Few
Good Men,” and “When Harry Met Sally… ,” during the production of
which he met photographer Michele Singer. They wed soon after and
were married for 36 years.
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