Overview
- Trustees and a professional fiduciary filed court papers in mid‑August asking the probate judge to withhold distributions while the criminal indictment and the slayer‑statute question are unresolved.
- Reiner filed a probate petition in June seeking his age‑30 distribution and has asked for roughly $558,000 now to hire private counsel, saying the trust is worth more than $1.5 million.
- The criminal case is active after a grand jury indictment was unsealed on Aug. 12 that added a lying‑in‑wait special‑circumstance allegation; Reiner has pleaded not guilty.
- Trustees argue releasing the funds would be irreversible and that, if disqualified under the slayer statute, Reiner’s share would pass to his siblings while his basic needs are already met in custody.
- California’s slayer statute bars anyone who 'feloniously and intentionally' kills a trustmaker from taking benefits, a criminal conviction is conclusive but a probate court may decide entitlement on a lower preponderance‑of‑the‑evidence standard.