Nick Reiner says money from grandfather Carl Reiner should be available for his defense

As we’ve previously reported, the trust fund issue is apparently a long-standing one for Reiner, who just turned 33, and who has been claiming throughout the summer that he should have received half of the funds from the trust when he turned 30. (Reiner was, per People, placed under a mental health conservatorship by his parents in 2020; he has sued both the former fiduciary in charge of the trust, which THR reports is valued at $1.6 million, as well as the current one, in an effort to gain access to the money.) Reiner has said that he wants the funds to help pay for a defense in the upcoming trial, after his previous lawyer, well-known attorney Alan Jackson, stepped down from the case due to what’s been assumed to be a lack of funds. 

Reiner’s current attorneys have argued that he should, at the very least, have access to money left to him by his grandfather: “Nick is not accused of causing his death,” the new filing notes. “Money that was left to Nick by his grandfather is not money received by Nick from or through his parents. To the extent the funds Nick received from his grandfather are Nick’s personal assets, they remain Nick’s and should be segregated and released from this trust. Even if they were properly held by the trust, the ‘Slayer Statute’ does not supply a basis for withholding them.” The filing also argues that the fiduciaries have spent about $250,000 from the fund to retain legal counsel to block Reiner from accessing the trust.

Reiner has entered a not guilty plea in his parents’ murders. Prosecutors recently revealed they won’t seek the death penalty, after consulting with Reiner’s siblings on the case.