Priscilla Presley has filed a legal dispute over the estate of her late daughter Lisa Marie Presley.
A filing in Los Angeles Superior Court last week challenged the validity of a 2016 amendment to Lisa Marie Presley’s living trust that removed Priscilla Presley and her former business manager as trustees and replaced them with Lisa Marie Presley’s two eldest children, Riley Keough and Benjamin Keough. if he dies or becomes paralyzed. Benjamin Keough died in 2020.
A living trust is a form of estate planning that allows a person to control their assets while they are alive, but distribute them upon death. It serves the function of a will if a separate will is not filed, as seen for Lisa Marie Presley.
Lisa Marie Presley, the singer and only child of Elvis Presley, died in a California hospital at the age of 54 on January 12 after paramedics answered a 911 call reporting a woman in cardiac arrest. The Los Angeles County Coroner is investigating, and has not released a cause of death. He was buried at his family home, Graceland, on January 22.
Priscilla Presley’s court filing said there are several issues that cast the authenticity of the living trust amendment into doubt.
The filing alleges failure to notify Priscilla Presley of the change as required, a misspelling of Priscilla Presley’s name on a document that was supposed to be signed by her daughter, an atypical signature of Lisa Marie Presley, and a lack of witnesses or notarization. It asked the judge to declare the amendment invalid.
The filing said the business manager, Barry Siegel, was about to resign, which under the terms of the previous trust would have left Priscilla Presley, 77, and Riley Keough, 33, as trustees.
A message seeking comment from Riley Keough’s representative was not immediately returned.
Lisa Marie Presley leaves three surviving children. In addition to Riley Keough, a daughter with her first husband Danny Keough, she has 14-year-old twins with her fourth husband, Michael Lockwood.
Presley was officially divorced from Lockwood in 2021, but the two were still arguing over their finances in family court at the time of his death.
Priscilla Presley’s filing is one of the first in what could be many legal maneuvers surrounding the estate of Lisa Marie Presley, the sole heir of Elvis Presley.
However, it is unclear how much the property is worth. Lisa Marie Presley’s lawsuit filed in 2018 alleging Siegel mismanaged the trust said it was worth more than $100 million, but most of it has been depleted.
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