A judge has clarified how the incarcerated Nick Reiner can participate in an upcoming mediation session to try and resolve a dispute with other family members regarding his entitlement to trust fund fees to pay for his criminal case defense costs.
Reiner, 33, wants the money in order to hire attorney Alan Jackson to defend him against murder charges stemming from the stabbings of his parents, acclaimed filmmaker Rob Reiner and photographer Michele Reiner.
On Tuesday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ruben Garcia’s clerk issued a clarifying minute order in the trust fund case stating that the court is authorizing Reiner to appear remotely by video conference or telephone at the Dec 16 mediation. Garcia also is ordering officials at the county jail where Reiner is being held to cooperate.
The judge also ordered the trust’s successor trustee, Jodi Pais Montgomery, to file a petition to approve any settlement if by Feb. 16. A hearing on approval, if necessary, would be held on March 17.
The dispute hinges in part on California’s so-called “slayer statute,” which dictates that a person cannot receive an inheritance from the death of someone they intentionally killed. Reiner wants to access the $1.5 million in trust funds and his legal team has argued that he is considered innocent until proven guilty, and thus he is not subject to the “slayer statute.”
Reiner previously entered a not guilty plea in Los Angeles Superior Court after a grand jury indictment was unsealed against the actor-director’s youngest son. A Jan. 13 hearing is scheduled to discuss a defense motion to keep the grand jury transcripts sealed.
The indictment replaced the case filed last Dec. 16 against Nick Reiner, who is charged with the slayings of his 78-year-old father and 70-year-old mother, who were found dead about 3:30 p.m. Dec. 14 in the couple’s Brentwood home in the 200 block of Chadbourne Avenue.
The murder charges include the special-circumstance allegation of multiple murders and a new special circumstance allegation of murder while lying in wait, along with an allegation that he personally used a knife in the commission of the crime.
The indictment also alleges the aggravating circumstances that the crimes “involved great violence, great bodily harm, threat of great bodily harm, or other acts disclosing a high degree of cruelty, viciousness or callousness” and that the victims were “particularly vulnerable.”
The trust was established as part of the Reiners’ estate plan, but is separate from the larger family trust that includes the estate’s assets, according to the petition, which further states each of the Reiners’ three children has an independent trust for their individual benefit, including Nick Reiner’s siblings.