Rob Reiner’s son Nick seeks money from trust parents left him for his defense in their killings

los angeles — Rob Reiner’s son, Nick Reiner, is seeking unpaid money from a fund his parents set up for him, saying he needs it to help with his defense against accusations of their murder.

The petition filed by civil lawyers for 32-year-old Nick Rayner in Los Angeles County Court on Monday said the trustees supervising the funds deprived him of the money without legal justification, and he needs and must have it now.

“Nick loved his parents, and is devastated by their deaths. But the facts about what did and did not happen to them are not at issue in this Trust lawsuit,” the petition says. “Like anyone accused of a crime, Nick is presumed innocent, and has the right to defend himself with the resources he legally has.”

Director and Hollywood star Rob Reiner and his wife, photographer and producer Michelle Singer Reiner, were stabbed to death at their home in the upscale Brentwood section of Los Angeles on December 14. Nick Rayner was arrested hours later and has since pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder.

Reiner retained high-profile private attorney Alan Jackson to represent him, but less than a month later Jackson left the case for reasons he said he could not participate. The new dossier reveals that Reiner’s siblings, Jake and Romy Reiner, had initially agreed to pay for Jackson, but then reversed course.

In an announcement attached to the petition, Jackson said “my firm is ready, willing and able to resume representing Mr. Reiner” if funds become available.

Aside from the larger Reiner family trust, which is not in dispute, Rob and Michelle Reiner set up smaller individual trusts for Nick Reiner and his siblings, the filing says. She says they left “unambiguous instructions” in Nick Rayner’s fund, which was set up in 1993, that he would get half his money when he turned 30 and the rest when he was 35.

But, the filing said, Reiner never received the money he was entitled to when he was 30, and the trustee overseeing it since February — attorney Paul R. Kanin – offered a “variable series of excuses and justifications” for denying Reiner money, including concerns about Reiner’s competency that had no bearing on the mandatory payment.

Reiner says he should also get the money he would have received at age 35 immediately because his defense and need for basic necessities in prison require it.

The petition says the fund has at least $1.5 million in assets, but Kanin would not share the exact amount it is worth.

Kanin did not immediately respond to an after-hours email seeking comment.

Proceedings in the Reiner murder case are moving slowly. He is scheduled to return to court for a preliminary hearing in September. He is eligible for the death penalty, but District Attorney Nathan Hochman said his office has not yet decided whether to seek it.

Authorities have said nothing about possible motives, and leaks in the case have been virtually nonexistent from both sides. The court order kept most details of the autopsy confidential. Many basic questions about the murder remain publicly unanswered.

On the day he dropped the case, Jackson, speaking outside court, adamantly declared that “under the laws of California, Nick Rayner is not guilty of murder.”

In April, Jake Reiner gave his first detailed account of the experience of losing his parents and having his brother at the heart of it, describing it as a “living nightmare” and “too devastating to comprehend.”

Rob Reiner was a prolific director whose credits included some of the most memorable and endlessly watchable films of the 1980s and 1990s. His credits included “This is Spinal Tap,” “Stand By Me,” “A Few Good Men,” and “When Harry Met Sally…”, during the production of which he met photographer Michelle Singer. They married soon after and were married for 36 years.