California\u2019s \u201cslayer statute\u201d\u00a0stands in the way of\u00a0Nick Reiner\u00a0and the trust fund his parents set up for him when he was a baby, the professional fiduciary for the fund said in court filings last week.<\/p>\n
Reiner stands accused of murdering his parents,\u00a0Hollywood\u00a0director\u00a0Rob Reiner\u00a0and\u00a0Michele Singer Reiner, last December, and since June has been seeking access to the $1.6 million fund so he can pay for a private defense lawyer.<\/p>\n
At the very least, his current attorney has argued in court filings, the 32-year-old should get the portion he was entitled to when he turned 30.<\/p>\n
The Reiners\u2019 younger son pleaded not guilty last week to new charges in the murders after being indicted by a grand jury for \u201clying in wait\u201d to ambush them at their family home in\u00a0Los Angeles\u2019\u00a0Brentwood\u00a0neighborhood. He has entered the same plea regarding the murders themselves.<\/p>\n
Reiner\u2019s initial ask came as the\u00a0trust was changing hands\u00a0from\u00a0Paul Kanin\u00a0to\u00a0Jodi Montgomery, both of whom have opposed the request, according to People. The fiduciaries cited the law, which states that \u201ca person who feloniously and intentionally kills the decedent is\u00a0not entitled\u201d to \u201cany property, interest, or benefit\u00a0under a will of the decedent, or a trust created by or for the benefit of the decedent or in which the decedent has an interest.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCalifornia has enacted\u00a0no exception permitting a killer\u2019s inheritance\u00a0to be used for criminal defense costs,\u201d wrote\u00a0Lauriann Wright, a lawyer for professional fiduciary\u00a0Jodi Montgomery, according to The\u00a0New York Times, which first reported the rejection. Wright also wrote that Reiner had opted out of receiving the approximately $558,000 payout he was eligible for when he turned 30. But he\u00a0denies giving consent to withhold money\u00a0and leave it in the trust fund.<\/p>\n
Reiner\u2019s attorney,\u00a0Anita Wu, argued that the tenet \u201cinnocent until proven guilty\u201d applies to the trust fund issue, which means he\u2019s entitled to the money because he has not been convicted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe slayer statute requires a determination, not a mere accusation,\u201d she countered, according to The\u00a0New York Times. \u201cNick is presumed innocent and has been convicted of nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
His siblings, Romy and\u00a0Jake Reiner, would be entitled to the funds instead, Wright maintained, noting that Montgomery has a fiduciary responsibility toward them in addition to Nick, according to the\u00a0Times.<\/p>\n
Further, handing over the money now would be an \u201cirreversible\u201d move, wrote Wright, even if Reiner were to be convicted of the murders after receiving the funds.<\/p>\n
A hearing on the case is scheduled for Monday, the\u00a0Times\u00a0reported.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Theresa Braine \/ New York Daily News<\/p>\n
_____<\/p>\n
\u00a92026 New York Daily News. Visit\u00a0nydailynews.com. Distributed by\u00a0Tribune Content Agency, LLC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"California\u2019s \u201cslayer statute\u201d\u00a0stands in the way of\u00a0Nick Reiner\u00a0and the trust fund his parents set up for him when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":435531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,1743,181,1331,1524,100],"class_list":["post-435530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-hollywood","tag-latest-headlines","tag-murder","tag-nation","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435530","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=435530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}