{"id":433906,"date":"2026-08-15T16:34:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T16:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/433906\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T16:34:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T16:34:07","slug":"nick-reiner-trust-fund-fight-may-hinge-on-states-slayer-statute-nbc-los-angeles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/433906\/","title":{"rendered":"Nick Reiner trust fund fight may hinge on state\u2019s Slayer Statute \u2013 NBC Los Angeles"},"content":{"rendered":"

The dispute over Nick Reiner\u2019s demand for access to a portion of a trust fund established by his parents, who he\u2019s accused of murdering, may focus on the \u2018Slayer Statute,\u2019 a California law that bars a person from receiving the benefits of a trust \u2013 if that person intentionally kills another person who created the trust.<\/p>\n

Reiner pleaded not guilty last week<\/a> to a newly unsealed grand jury indictment that charges him with the December, 2025 murders of Rob and Michele Reiner, and further alleges Nick Reiner was \u2018lying in wait\u2019 to carry out the stabbing attack at the family\u2019s home in Brentwood.<\/p>\n

A judge in LA probate court is set to hear argument on the trust challenge Monday, and new legal filings from the trust attorneys argue Nick Reiner should not receive the money while the murder case is proceeding.<\/p>\n

The trust attorney invoked the \u201cSlayer Statute\u201d in a response to Reiner\u2019s demand, and said because there are now, \u201cconflicting claims,\u201d to the trust fund, the money should be withheld until they\u2019re resolved, a clear reference to Reiner\u2019s guilt or innocence yet to be established by a criminal court.<\/p>\n

Nick Reiner filed suit against the trust earlier this year<\/a>, and demanded the first of two payments from the fund, which both sides agree was due to him when he turned 30 years old, on September 14, 2023 \u2013 2 years before the murders occurred \u2013 but was never distributed to him.<\/p>\n

According to Reiner\u2019s filing he needs the money to re-hire defense attorney Alan Jackson, who initially represented Reiner but withdrew from the case in January.<\/p>\n

\u201cNick loved his parents, and he is devastated by their deaths. But the facts about what did and did not happen to them are not at issue in this Trust litigation,\u201d Reiner\u2019s court filing said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike anyone accused of a crime, Nick is presumed innocent, and he is entitled to mount his defense with the resources that are lawfully his own,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

California Probate Code section 250 says, \u201cA person who feloniously and intentionally kills the decedent is not entitled to” property, interests, or benefits under a will, trust, intestate succession, and certain other transfers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Code specifically describes a trust, \u201ccreated by\u2026the decedent, or in which the decedent has an interest,\u201d like the one established by Rob and Michele Reiner for the benefit of Nick, his brother Jake, and his sister Romy, according to the court filings.<\/p>\n

Should the probate court agree to delay a decision on distributions to Nick Reiner, a future acquittal in criminal court would still not guarantee his receipt of the money.<\/p>\n

The Code also says while a criminal conviction would be conclusive proof of ineligibility, the probate court may still reach an independent determination of whether he, \u201cfeloniously and intentionally killed the decedent under a preponderance of the evidence standard,\u201d which is somewhat less stringent than proof beyond a reasonable doubt in criminal court.<\/p>\n

Reiner\u2019s petition for access to the trust argued the age 30 distribution was mandatory, that it was due 2 years before the murders, and that he\u2019s never been found to be \u2018incompetent\u2019 or incapable of receiving the money.<\/p>\n

The attorney for the trust also argued that because Reiner didn\u2019t explicitly demand his age 30 distribution he \u2018consented\u2019 to not receiving the money.<\/p>\n

The amount of money in the trust isn\u2019t publicly known, but Reiner\u2019s petition said it had at least $1.5-million in value.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The dispute over Nick Reiner\u2019s demand for access to a portion of a trust fund established by his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291523,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[3552,48,52,51,47,50,49],"class_list":["post-433906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-crime-and-courts","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}