As he awaits trial for allegedly murdering his parents, Nick Reiner has claimed he’s owed over $1million in inheritance – money he wants to use to hire a high-powered lawyer.
The 32-year-old is currently in prison, facing two murder charges following the deaths of his parents, director Rob Reiner, 78, and his wife, Michele Singer, 70, last December. He has pleaded not guilty.
Nick was arrested the same night after Rob and Michele were found dead from sharp-force injuries. Youngest child Romy discovered her father’s body after being informed that the couple had missed their massage therapist appointment, and she was later told of her mother’s death, unaware she had also been home.
Middle child Nick, who was living with his parents at the time, has been held without bail since his detainment, with his next preliminary hearing scheduled for September.
In the meantime, he has filed a petition in a California court to request access to money from a trust fund set up in his name.
The probate petition, filed on June 8 and obtained by People, states: ‘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 documents say that the late Rob and Michele established small trust funds for the ‘individual benefit’ of their children, with Nick, Romy, and eldest son Jake having one each.
While Nick is believed not to have been informed of the total amount in the trust, the petition claims it exceeds $1.5million (£1.12m).
Named ‘Nick’s Trust’, half of the fund was required to be distributed to Nick ‘outright when he turned 30’. The remainder, the petition claims, would be given to him when he turned 35.
However, it’s been alleged that the mandatory distribution of the funds did not happen when he reached 30, despite ‘months of repeated inquiries’ to the current trustee.
The petition further claims that a ‘shifting series of excuses and justifications’ has been given for the reasons why the money has not been released, including ‘unsubstantiated concerns’ about Nick’s ‘competence’ in managing the large sum of money.
It adds that he intends to use the first half of the cash to cover his legal expenses and personal account while in jail to access ‘basic support items’ like hygiene supplies within the ‘low spending limits’ imposed by the prison. Nick reportedly has been unable to pay his legal fees and to access personal supplies while incarcerated thus far.
Consequently, his original lawyer, Alan Jackson, who was employed with payment negotiated by ‘Nick’s siblings on his behalf’, withdrew because the funds were ‘not made available’.
Nick is currently represented by public defender Kimberly Greene.
The petition adds that ‘these distributions are non-discretionary’ and, considering Nick’s ‘present circumstances’, the Trust is now ‘abusing the Trustee’s discretion’ in refusing his requests, arguing that ‘no other use of his funds could be more important’.
In his defence, the petition also insists that ‘there is no judicial declaration that Nick is incompetent, nor has he been determined to lack capacity by the written statement of two licensed physicians’, refuting any ‘concerns’.
‘The stakes for Nick could not be higher,’ states the petition.
Los Angeles-born Nick has long discussed his struggles with substance abuse publicly, having first entered rehab for drug use aged 14. By the time he was 16, it was estimated that Nick had been in drug treatment 18 times.
Then, in 2015, Nick penned the film Being Charlie, which was inspired by his addiction and his relationship with his father. When Harry Met Sally filmmaker Rob directed the project.
In 2020, Nick was placed under a mental health conservatorship, which ended in 2021.
His contentious relationship with his parents is well known. The night before their deaths, the three attended a Christmas party hosted by Conan O’Brien.
It was reported that they left after Nick and Rob had a ‘very loud argument’, during which Nick was chastised for his conduct.
However, the Reiner family later denied such a thing, telling The New York Times that they would not have left the event early due to Nick’s behaviour, as they had become accustomed to it.
When paying tribute to their parents in the aftermath of the alleged homicides, Jake and Romy remembered their mum and dad as their ‘best friends’.
Jake later said he was still waking up each morning, having to remind himself it was not all a dream, calling the period his ‘living nightmare’.
He added: ‘One thing I keep coming back to is how frightened they must have been.
‘They were the last people in the world to deserve what happened to them. They deserved to be loved, they deserved to be respected, and above all, they deserved to be appreciated for how much they gave to all three of us and to the world.’
Plenty of A-listers and notable figures penned their own heartfelt tributes, including Barbra Streisand, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Whoopi Goldberg, Stephen King, Jimmy Kimmel, and Demi Moore. They were also remembered fondly in a special segment at the 2026 Oscars.
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