Jodi Montgomery Back in Court — This Time Over Nick Reiner's Trust

A name that looms large in pop-culture legal history has resurfaced in a very different courtroom drama. Jodi Montgomery — who stepped in as Britney Spears' conservator after Jamie Spears was ousted from the role — is now at the center of a heated civil dispute involving Nick Reiner, the 32-year-old son of late comedy legend Carl Reiner, who stands accused of murdering his parents.

Who Is Nick Reiner and What's the Fight About?

Nick Reiner is currently incarcerated and facing double-homicide charges in connection with the deaths of his parents, Rob and Michele Reiner. His legal team has been locked in a fierce civil battle to unlock money from his personal trust to fund his criminal defense — and the case is getting more complicated by the day, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

At the heart of the dispute is a $1.6 million trust. Reiner's attorneys want to rehire high-profile defense lawyer Alan Jackson — whose client roster has included Harvey Weinstein and Karen Read — after Jackson was forced to withdraw from the case due to a lack of funding. Prosecutors, meanwhile, have confirmed they will not seek the death penalty after consulting with Reiner's siblings.

The Slayer Statute Standoff

The trust's fiduciaries have leaned on California's so-called "Slayer Statute" to justify their refusal to release any funds — a law that bars individuals from inheriting money from people they are accused or convicted of killing. Reiner's legal team is pushing back hard, arguing that the law is being applied too broadly.

A key element of their new court filings centers on roughly $325,000 within the trust that traces back not to his parents, but to his grandfather, Carl Reiner, who passed away in 2020. Since Nick is not accused of causing Carl's death, his lawyers argue that portion of the trust sits entirely outside the Slayer Statute's reach and should be immediately segregated and released.

They've also raised a procedural grievance: a distribution that was contractually owed to Nick when he turned 30 — worth approximately $558,000 — was allegedly never paid out, predating the criminal charges entirely.

Money Bleeding Out — Just Not to Nick

Here's where the situation turns particularly striking. While Nick Reiner has reportedly not received a single dollar from his own trust — not even enough for basic hygiene items while behind bars — the fiduciaries have spent more than $250,000 of that very trust defending themselves in this civil dispute. His lawyers have flagged the bitter irony to the court directly, noting that the legal fees paid to protect the trustees amount to nearly half the overdue distribution Nick was already owed.

Jodi Montgomery's Role

So where does Britney Spears connect to all of this? Jodi Montgomery, who managed Britney's conservatorship from 2019 until it was dissolved in 2021 — a period [Britney has since spoken about openly](britney-spears-opens-up-about-life-post-conservatorship-and-new-beginnings) — is named in the suit as both the now-former and current fiduciary overseeing Reiner's trust. Reiner's team is suing her alongside the previous trustee.

Montgomery's work as Spears' conservator placed her in the global spotlight during one of the most talked-about celebrity legal battles in recent memory. [Britney has continued to navigate life on her own terms since the conservatorship ended](article/britney-spears-owns-her-freeway-moment-nothing-is-what-it-seems), but for Montgomery, the courtroom chapter clearly isn't closed.

What Happens Next

The civil proceedings are ongoing, and Reiner's criminal case continues in Los Angeles. Whether the courts will agree to carve out and release the grandfather's portion of the trust — or order the full age-30 distribution — remains to be seen. What's already clear is that the legal machine is burning through Reiner's money at a rapid clip, even as he sits in a cell waiting for access to any of it.

Related on Ni4o: Britney Spears Owns Her Freeway Moment: 'Nothing Is What It Seems' · Jayden James Shuts Down Britney Spears Clone Theory: 'It's Crazy' · Britney Spears Can't Get Enough of Beyoncé's Latest Vibes