{"id":41357,"date":"2025-12-22T07:15:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T15:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=41357"},"modified":"2026-02-08T07:32:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T15:32:16","slug":"how-the-slayer-rule-might-play-a-role-in-determining-who-will-inherit-wealth-from-rob-reiner-and-his-wife","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/how-the-slayer-rule-might-play-a-role-in-determining-who-will-inherit-wealth-from-rob-reiner-and-his-wife\/","title":{"rendered":"How the \u2018slayer rule\u2019 might play a role in determining who will inherit wealth from Rob Reiner and his wife"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Naomi Cahn<\/a>, University of Virginia<\/a><\/em> and Reid Kress Weisbord<\/a>, Rutgers University – Newark<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fatal stabbings of filmmaker and actor Rob Reiner and his wife<\/a>, the photographer and producer Michele Singer Reiner, have sparked widespread grieving. This tragedy, discovered on Dec. 14, 2025, is also increasing the public\u2019s interest in what happens when killers could inherit wealth from their victims. That\u2019s because Nick Reiner, their son, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder<\/a> four days after the couple\u2019s deaths at their Los Angeles home.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s the \u2018slayer rule\u2019?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

All states<\/a> have some form of a slayer rule that prevents killers from inheriting from their victims. While the rules differ slightly from state to state, they always bar murderers from profiting from their own crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simply put, if you\u2019re found guilty of killing someone or plead guilty to their murder, you can\u2019t inherit anything from your victim\u2019s estate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In some states, this might go beyond inheritance and apply to jointly held property, insurance policies and other kinds of accounts<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of these slayer rules, including California\u2019s, apply only to \u201cfelonious and intentional<\/a>\u201d killings, meaning that they don\u2019t apply if you accidentally kill someone. Although there doesn\u2019t have to be a guilty verdict by a judge or a jury, or a guilty plea from the accused, there must be some finding by a criminal or civil court of an intentional and felonious killing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These rules, known as slayer rules, have a long history in the United States. They became more prominent following an 1889 murder case<\/a> in New York state, in which a 16-year-old boy poisoned his grandfather to get an inheritance that was written into his grandfather\u2019s will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How often are slayer rules invoked?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s hard to say for sure. As far as we know, nobody\u2019s tried to keep track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slayer rules come into play whenever someone who would otherwise inherit assets from an estate is convicted of or found liable for murder, and the slayer is entitled to inherit from the victim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These tragic cases almost always involve murders committed by relatives. Many of the high-profile ones have been tied to murders that occurred in California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Famous disinherited murderers include Lyle and Erik Menendez, the Californians known as the Menendez brothers<\/a>. In 1996, a jury found them guilty of the first-degree murder of their parents, Jos\u00e9 and Mary Louise \u201cKitty\u201d Menendez. The Menendez brothers\u2019 parents, who were killed in 1989, had a fortune that today would be worth more than $35 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The brothers, who became eligible for parole<\/a> but were denied it in 2025, have been in prison ever since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once there has been a finding of an intentional and felonious killing, even if the slayer is later released on parole \u2013 or even if they serve no prison time at all \u2013 they would still not inherit anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In practical terms, that means if one or both of the Menendez brothers were to win parole in the future, they would still be ineligible to inherit any of their parents\u2019 wealth upon their release from prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

California\u2019s slayer rule also meant that salesman Scott Peterson<\/a>, who was convicted of killing his pregnant wife, Laci Peterson<\/a>, in 2002, couldn\u2019t collect the money he would otherwise have been due from her life insurance policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peterson has been in prison since 2005.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Two
Erik Menendez, left, and Lyle Menendez, seen standing trial for their parents\u2019 murders, in 1994. They were convicted in 1996. Ted Soqui\/Sygma via Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What can block its application?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the absence of a murder conviction, the slayer rule may not apply. For example, a conviction for a lesser criminal offense, such as manslaughter<\/a>, might allow the accused \u2013 or their lawyers \u2013 to argue that the killing was unintentional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This exception could be relevant to the prosecution of the Reiners\u2019 murders if it were to turn out that Nick Reiner\u2019s defense can show that substance abuse<\/a> or schizophrenia<\/a> rendered him insane when he allegedly killed his parents at their Los Angeles home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, under California law, even if there is no conviction<\/a> the probate court administering the murder victim\u2019s estate could still separately find that the killing was intentional and felonious. That civil finding would bar the slayer from inheriting without a criminal conviction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Rob
Rob Reiner and his son Nick, seen in 2016 speaking about \u2018Being Charlie,\u2019 the movie about a young man\u2019s struggle with substance use that they made together. Laura Cavanaugh\/FilmMagic via Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Does this only apply to families with big fortunes?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Slayer rules apply to anyone who kills one or more of their relatives, whether their victims were rich, poor or in between.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When large amounts of money are at stake, cases tend to garner more attention due to media coverage during the criminal trial and subsequent inheritance litigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who will inherit Rob Reiner\u2019s and Michele Singer Reiner\u2019s wealth?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s too soon for both the public and the family to know who will inherit ultimately from the Reiners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wills are typically public documents, although the Reiners may have also engaged in other types of estate planning, such as trusts, that do not typically become public records. And celebrities with valuable intellectual property rights<\/a>, such as copyrights from the Reiners\u2019 many film and television properties, tend to establish trusts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assuming that, like many parents, the Reiners left most of their fortune<\/a> \u2013 which reportedly was worth some US$200 million \u2013 to their children, including Nick, then California\u2019s slayer statute may come into play. The couple had two other children together<\/a>, Romy and Jake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rob Reiner also had another daughter, Tracy Reiner, whom he adopted after his marriage to his first wife, the actor and filmmaker Penny Marshall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s also likely that the Reiners included charitable bequests in their estate plans. They were strong supporters of many causes<\/a>, including early childhood development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Might the slayer rule apply to Nick Reiner?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s much too soon to know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is important to emphasize that the wills and other estate planning documents of Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner have not yet been made public. That means what Nick Reiner might stand to inherit, if the slayer rule were to prove irrelevant in this case, is unknown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nor, with the investigation of the couple\u2019s deaths still underway, can anyone make any assumptions about Nick\u2019s innocence or guilt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, as of mid-December 2025, an unnamed source was telling entertainment reporters that Nick Reiner\u2019s legal bills were being paid for<\/a> by the Reiner family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naomi Cahn<\/a>, Professor of Law, University of Virginia<\/a><\/em> and Reid Kress Weisbord<\/a>, Distinguished Professor of Law and Judge Norma Shapiro Scholar, Rutgers University – Newark<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Naomi Cahn, University of Virginia and Reid Kress Weisbord, Rutgers University – Newark The fatal stabbings of filmmaker and actor Rob Reiner and his wife, the photographer and producer Michele Singer Reiner, have sparked widespread grieving. This tragedy, discovered on Dec. 14, 2025, is also increasing the public\u2019s interest in what happens when killers could […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":41358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[46,295,296,27,4],"tags":[272,198,17286,3450,885,891,886,860,17287,2542,17288,1693],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41357"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41357"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41718,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41357\/revisions\/41718"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}