Courts and Crime
"I am optimistic," the lawyer for the trust fund's trustee tells Rolling Stone
Nick Reiner is a step closer to accessing a portion of his $1.7 million trust fund to rehire prominent defense attorney Alan Jackson as he fights charges that he fatally stabbed his parents, Rob and Michele Reiner. At a court hearing Friday, his lawyer announced that the dispute over the funds would move to private settlement talks.
“We’re happy to report that at your honor’s direction, we met and conferred about mediation and settlement, and all parties have now scheduled a global mediation,” Nick’s trust lawyer, Anita P. Wu, told Judge Ruben Garcia in downtown Los Angeles. Wu said the mediation was set for Dec. 16 before retired Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff, who previously oversaw Michael Jackson’s estate. Any settlement would require Garcia’s approval.
At the hearing, a lawyer for trustee Jodi Montgomery, who has been withholding the funds, also asked the judge to authorize payments into Reiner’s jail commissary account. Montgomery had previously refused to release the money as part of her overarching concerns about California’s Slayer Statute, which bars anyone who “feloniously and intentionally kills” another person from inheriting property or receiving benefits from the victim’s will or trust.
“We think the amount is so small and nominal that we’d love to see this get done today,” Montgomery’s lawyer, Lauriann Wright, told the judge. She said Reiner’s commissary account could hold no more than $300 at a time.
“There are, of course, Slayer Statute issues pending that need to get decided in some way, but it’s so de minimis, and I think it would really be important for Nick Reiner’s quality of life during his incarceration,” Wright said.
Judge Garcia said he would consider the request and could rule by the end of the day, though he suggested the issue might also need to be resolved through mediation.
After the hearing, Wright said she was hopeful the upcoming settlement talks would lead to a deal. Reiner has spent months fighting for access to half of his $1.7 million trust fund, arguing that his parents left “unambiguous instructions” that half the money would become his property when he turned 30 on Sept. 14, 2023. The remaining funds were to be distributed when he turned 35.
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In court filings, Montgomery has argued that Reiner never collected his initial distribution, leaving the money in the trust. She maintains that she has a fiduciary duty to withhold the funds until the legal questions are resolved. If California’s Slayer Statute applies, she argues, the money must be preserved for Reiner’s siblings, who are next in line to inherit it. Neither sibling has sought the funds. Reiner, 32, contends that the law does not apply to money he was already entitled to receive when he turned 30.
“We’re all smart, experienced attorneys, and when you have smart, experienced attorneys with rational clients, you can accomplish a lot in mediation. So I am optimistic,” Wright told Rolling Stone after the hearing.
Reiner was previously represented by Alan Jackson, a former Los Angeles deputy district attorney who helped prosecute music producer Phil Spector before becoming a prominent defense lawyer whose clients have included Harvey Weinstein and Karen Read. According to a declaration Jackson submitted with Reiner’s probate petition in June, a Reiner family representative contacted him on Dec. 15, 2025, a day after the alleged murders, saying Reiner urgently needed a lawyer. Jackson said Reiner’s older siblings “participated in communications concerning the representation and agreed verbally to act as third-party payors for Mr. Reiner’s defense.” The siblings later withdrew from that agreement, prompting the lawyer to step down. The move left Reiner on the hook for his legal tab, leading to his petition for court intervention.
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Reiner has pleaded not guilty to killing his parents on Dec. 14, 2025, inside their Brentwood home. His sister, Romy, discovered their bodies and later testified before a grand jury, as did his older brother, Jake, according to court records.
The grand jury indicted Reiner on two counts of first-degree murder along with the special circumstance allegation that he committed the killings by lying in wait. He also faces an allegation that he personally used a knife as a deadly weapon. Prosecutors recently said they will not seek the death penalty.
Police arrested Reiner hours after his parents were found dead in the primary bedroom of their Los Angeles home. The county medical examiner determined both died from multiple sharp-force injuries. Rob Reiner rose to fame on the groundbreaking sitcom All in the Family before directing such beloved films as This Is Spinal Tap, Stand by Me, and The Princess Bride. Michele Reiner, a photographer and philanthropist, met her husband on the set of his classic romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally.
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In the aftermath of the killings, Reiner’s history of mental illness and substance abuse came under scrutiny. Sources confirmed to Rolling Stone that he had been treated for schizophrenia before his parents’ deaths. A source later told The New York Times that he also had been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, a condition involving symptoms of psychosis along with mood disturbances such as depression or mania.
Reiner is currently represented by a public defender who attended the hearing on Friday. The next hearing in the criminal case is scheduled for Jan. 13, 2027.