The Hollywood Reporter
Priscilla Presley is surrendering control of her daughter’s estate to her granddaughter, according to a proposed settlement filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Riley Keough moved to approve a deal on Monday that would name her sole trustee of her late mother’s sprawling estate. Under the agreement, Priscilla Presley will be paid an undisclosed sum to drop her petition challenging the “authenticity and validity” of a 2016 amendment to her daughter’s will that replaced her as a co-trustee.
Lisa Marie Presley died Jan. 12 after suffering cardiac arrest at her home in Calabasas, California. The singer and only child of Elvis Presley was 54. She is survived by Riley Keough as well as Harper Lockwood and Finley Lockwood, both of whom are minors.
The deal, if approved, will end wrangling over control of the lucrative estate. After the death of Elvis Presley’s father and grandmother, Lisa Marie Presley became the sole inheritor to her father’s estate, which was managed by Priscilla Presley and includes a 15 percent stake in the company that controls the musician’s intellectual property, to be held in a trust until she came of age, according to the Graceland website. Upon Lisa Marie Presley’s 25th birthday in 1993, the trust automatically dissolved, and she chose to form a new trust to continue the management of the estate, with Priscilla Presley continuing to serve as a co-trustee.
“In settling the claims pending in Priscilla’s Petition, the parties are saving significant legal fees by avoiding litigation, and they are likewise avoiding the spectacle of intra-family litigation that would have been inimical to Lisa’s wishes and not in the best interests of the family,” states the filing.
Urging approval of the settlement, Keough argues that the deal is “in the best interests of the trust and the family.” She stresses that she doesn’t intend to charge any compensation for her services as trustee, unlike Priscilla Presley. Additionally, she says that she would be “happy to provide more context” to her assertion that the “money will be safeguarded and invested in a manner consistent with the needs of the beneficiaries, and not influenced by the desires of a trustee.”
Priscilla Presley will no longer serve as a trustee regardless of whether the settlement is approved, according to the petition.
To avoid any future issues, Keough requested a court order that she’s the sole trustee.
“This request is made given the history of the Trust and the multiple Co-Trustees that have served over the years, and the various resignations that have occurred over the last year,” the filing states. “ln sum, Riley simply wants to have a Court Order she can deliver to third parties, such as the life insurance company, as appropriate, to clarify that she is the sole trustee and avoid unnecessary delays associated with third parties needing to determine who the trustee is.”
The agreement also permits Priscilla Presley to be buried in the Meditation Garden of Graceland, which Keough now owns. It stipulates that any person she names in her will be allowed to participate in the planning of her memorial service.
Priscilla Presley, who divorced Elvis Presley in 1973, and then-business manager Barry Siegel served as co-trustees to Lisa Marie Presley’s trust since 1993, according to the petition. After her daughter died, she said she discovered a document replacing the both of them with Riley Keough and Benjamin Keough, who died in 2020 of suicide.
In challenging her daughter’s will, Priscilla Presley argued that the amendment was never delivered to her during her daughter’s lifetime as required by the terms of the trust. Additionally, she pointed out how the document misspelled her name and that her daughter’s signature was “inconsistent with her usual and customary signature.”
The beneficiaries of the trust include Riley Keough, Harper Lockwood, Finley Lockwood and Lisa Marie Presley’s half-brother Navarone Garibaldi.
Lawyers for Riley Keough and Priscilla Presley didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
