Nick Reiner and the trustee of the family trust are set to square off in L.A. Superior Court over whether at least $558,000 can be used for his criminal defense, putting a slice of a trust worth more than $1.6 million at the center of a civil fight tied to the 2025 killing of his parents.
The hearing was scheduled for Monday morning in downtown L.A. before Superior Court Judge Ruben Garcia, making the dispute immediate: Reiner is 32 and represented by a public defender, but the money at issue was created years ago for the children of Rob Reiner and Michele Singer, and the court must decide whether it can be reached now or held back.
The trust was created on December 2, 1993, and the trustee says at least $558,000 became due and payable when Nick Reiner turned 30 on September 14, 2023. The trustee also says records show he declined that payment three years ago, and argues he is not entitled to anything until he turns 35, a position backed by the trust terms and California’s Slayer Statute. If Reiner were to die, the trustee says, the funds would go to his brother and sister.
That account is exactly what Reiner is fighting. In an August 13 declaration, he said he relied on the trustees of his trust to administer it fairly, for his benefit, and in accordance with its terms. He also said he does not recall being told by Mr. Fishburn that the $558,000 was owed to him, was never told that Mr. Fishburn was trying to give him the money, was never asked where he wanted it transferred, was never asked for his consent to keep it as trust property, and was never told he would receive accrued interest or income because of that consent.
Nick Reiner filed a petition for the money in the LASC docket on August 14, one day after DA Nathan Hochman’s office made public a special-circumstance allegation of murder while lying in wait added to the charges against him on August 12. That sequence matters because the trust dispute is not just about when money is due; it is about whether the criminal case now gives the trustee a basis to keep the funds out of Reiner’s reach altogether.
The immediate question for Judge Ruben Garcia is narrow but consequential: did Nick Reiner actually have a present right to the $558,000 when he turned 30, and if he did, did he waive it by leaving the money in the trust? If the court accepts the trustee’s reading, Reiner may not see the money until he is 35, and the Slayer Statute could still control what happens next depending on how the criminal case ends. If it accepts Reiner’s version, the money may have to be released now for his defense.
