Nick Reiner claims access to his parents' inheritance to pay for his defense
Accused of stabbing his parents, filmmaker Rob Reiner and producer Michele Singer, the 32-year-old demands a $1.5 million trust fund
Nick Reiner, 32, filed a formal petition in a Los Angeles court demanding immediate access to a trust fund of more than $1.5 million established by his parents to pay for his defense.
Reiner is behind bars without bail, charged with the first-degree double homicide of his father, iconic director Rob Reiner, and his mother, photographer and producer Michele Singer Reiner.
According to legal documents obtained by People magazine, Reiner's civil lawyers maintain that the trust, created in 1993, stipulated clear instructions: he was to receive half of the funds by his 30th birthday and the rest by his 35th birthday.
The defense argues that the fund's current administrator is unjustifiably withholding the money under shifting excuses about the defendant's mental competency.
“Nick was deeply hurt by the deaths of his parents, but the facts of the crime are not at issue in this financial litigation,” the petition states.
The defense emphasizes that, like any citizen, Reiner enjoys the presumption of innocence and has the right to defend himself using the resources that legally belong to him.
The defendant urgently needs the money to rehire high-profile private legal counsel, after being temporarily under the representation of a public defender due to lack of funds.
Likewise, the request details that the capital is required to cover basic needs in prison, such as hygiene products and clothing.
The couple was found dead in their Brentwood residence last December. While the prosecution considers whether to seek the death penalty, Nick Reiner awaits his preliminary hearing scheduled for September.

