Slayer statute freezes a $1.5M trust payout in Reiner case

The fight over Nick Reiner's trust is an object lesson for family office trustees in how the slayer statute turns a routine distribution into litigation.

Nick Reiner is 32. He faces two counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances. The charges stem from the December 2025 killings of his parents, filmmaker Rob Reiner and philanthropist Michele Singer Reiner, at their Brentwood home. He has pleaded not guilty and remains in custody. The professional fiduciary overseeing his trust, Jodi Pais Montgomery, has opposed his request for access to an estimated $1.5 million the trust holds for his defense, WealthManagement.com reports.

Court papers obtained by The New York Times say the trustees are invoking California's slayer statute. The law bars anyone who 'feloniously and intentionally kills' the decedent from taking property, interest, or benefit under a will or trust. Montgomery's attorney, Lauriann Wright, argued in filings that California has no exception allowing a killer's inheritance to pay criminal defense costs. If the money were released, Wright said, it would go to Nick's siblings, Romy and Jake Reiner, and the move would be 'irreversible,' as The Hollywood Reporter reported. Nick's attorney, Anita P. Wu, counters that a conviction, not an accusation, is required. 'Nick is presumed innocent and has been convicted of nothing,' Wu told the Times.

The case may turn on when Nick's right to the money vested. His petition says the trust entitled him to about $558,000. He was due to receive it when he turned 30. That birthday fell in 2023. The rest was due at 35. The fiduciaries reportedly say Nick declined the first payout. He says no distribution ever reached him. Blank Rome private client co-chair Sean R. Weissbart says access may depend on the criminal proceeding's outcome.

For family offices, the case is a worst-case distribution file. The beneficiary is under criminal accusation. The payout history is disputed. The statute lets the fiduciary freeze first and litigate later. Distributing now risks handing trust money to someone later convicted of killing the grantor. Holding back risks depriving a presumptively innocent beneficiary of his own money. Either direction leaves the estate to pay the lawyers.