Nick Reiner files petition for trust fund access to cover legal and jail costs

Nick Reiner, who faces charges of murdering his parents Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner in December 2025, has lodged a petition in a California court seeking access to a trust fund established in his name.

"Nick loved his parents, and he is devastated by their deaths," reads the probate petition, filed on Monday and obtained by PEOPLE. "But the facts about what did and did not happen to them are not at issue in this Trust litigation."

The trust fund in question

According to the petition, Nick's parents had previously set up a "smaller, separate trust for his individual benefit" — referred to throughout the document as "Nick's Trust" — mirroring arrangements made for their two other children, Jake and Romy. In addition to his three biological children, Rob also adopted his first wife Penny Marshall's daughter, Tracy.

The petition states that half of the trust was required to be released to Nick "outright when he turned 30," with the remaining half to follow upon his 35th birthday. Nick, who is currently 32 years old, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and has since entered a not guilty plea.

The petition contends that the mandatory distribution owed to Nick at the age of 30 has still not been made, and that he has not been told the full value of the trust — which the petition asserts exceeds $1.5 million.

Allegations against the trustee

The petition alleges that "months of repeated inquiries" directed at the current trustee have been met with "a shifting series of excuses and justifications," including what it describes as "unsubstantiated 'concerns' about Nick's so-called competence to 'manage a trust.'"

The document demands that the first portion of the trust be released so that Nick can meet his legal costs and fund his jail commissary account "so that he can buy basic support items while incarcerated (e.g., socks and personal hygiene items like soap) within the low spending limits imposed by the jail."

"These distributions are non-discretionary," the petition states. "The trust does not authorize the Trustee to condition these distribution points on any subjective assessment by the Trustee as to Nick's intended use of those funds."

The petition further argues that because the trust is "irrevocable," the trustee has no authority to withhold funds from a beneficiary considered incompetent — only to "modify the manner of distribution to an incompetent beneficiary."

It also asserts 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," rendering the trustee's stated concerns about capacity "insufficient."

Given Nick's "present circumstances," the petition characterises the refusal to release funds as "an abuse of the Trustee's discretion," arguing that no "use of his funds could be more important."

Legal representation and financial hardship

"The stakes for Nick could not be higher," the petition states, noting his inability to cover "basic necessities while incarcerated" or to fund legal representation.

The document reveals that Nick was initially represented by attorney Alan Jackson, who had been retained with payment arrangements negotiated by "Nick's siblings on his behalf." On 7 January 2026, the petition alleges, Jackson "was forced to withdraw because funds were not made available from this Trust or the Reiner family trusts."

Nick is now represented by public defender Kimberly Greene.

In a supporting declaration filed alongside the motion, Jackson stated that he remains "committed to representing" Nick and is "willing to consider reasonable alternatives to the original fee arrangement."