Family dispute over Lisa Marie Presley’s trust exposed

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Lisa Marie Presley’s grave adorned with flowers at Graceland

On the same day, Priscilla Presley issued a statement to fans of her sadness at the death of her daughter, Lisa Marie Presley. The actress asked a Los Angeles judge to ensure she was given control of the financial assets left by her only daughter with music icon Elvis Presley. Lisa Marie died on January 12, 2023 at the age of 54 after suffering a possible cardiac arrest at her home in California. Priscilla, who has appeared in two Hallmark Channel films set in Graceland — her family’s historic Memphis mansion — questions the validity of a 2016 change to Lisa Marie’s trust aimed at taking control of her Passing estate to their children instead of Priscilla and Lisa Marie’s former manager. Here’s what you need to know:

Priscilla Presley thanked fans amid court filings

GettyPriscilla Presley speaks at Graceland’s public memorial for Lisa Marie Presley on January 22, 2023

A public memorial service for Lisa Marie was held at Graceland on January 22, with heartfelt speeches from family members, including Priscilla and Lisa Marie’s eldest daughter, actress Riley Keough. The next day, Priscilla, 77, gave one Statement to the fans via Twitter.

“Thank you all for your condolences, you touched me with your words,” she wrote on Jan. 23. “It’s been a very difficult time, but just knowing your love is out there makes a difference.”

Adding to that tweet three days later on Jan. 26, she wrote, “To YOU, I am truly overwhelmed by your words, your prayers, your love and your support. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for trying to help me overcome this loss. Any parent who has lost a daughter or son knows what a dark, arduous journey it is.” Priscilla added a heartbroken emoji at the end.

According to court documents on the same day received from NBC News, Priscilla asked a judge to declare an “alleged” 2016 amendment made to Lisa Marie’s trust to be invalidated. The documents filed with Los Angeles Superior Court call for Priscilla to retain control of her daughter’s trust, not her granddaughter.

According to NBC News, Lisa Marie established a living trust in 1993, a legal document designed to protect and pass on her wealth as it is to be distributed after her death. In her court filing, Priscilla says the trust was “completely restated” on January 27, 2010, with her and Lisa Marie’s former executive director, Barry Siegel, named as co-trustees, just as they were in the original document.

However, Lisa Marie had a difficult relationship with Siegel, eventually suing him for $100 million, claiming his investments left her next to nothing.

Lisa Marie Presley fought the business manager whom Priscilla Presley credits as her co-trustee

Getty(LR) Lisa Marie Presley, Priscilla Presley and Riley Keough attend their handprint ceremony at the TCL Chinese Theater in June 2022

2018, Us Weekly reported that Lisa Marie claimed Siegel, who oversaw the trust her father left her after his death in 1977, drove it into the ground. In court documents obtained by the outlet, Lisa Marie said Siegel sold 85 percent of her interest in Elvis Presley Enterprises for $100 million in 2005 and used the money to invest in Core Entertainment, American Idol’s parent company. However, Core went bankrupt in 2016. Lisa Marie sued Siegel for $100 million in 2018, saying his bad investment left her with just $14,000 to her name.

In her mother’s new court filing, According to Entertainment Tonight, Priscilla said she found a March 11, 2016 document that claimed to be “an amendment” to Lisa Marie’s trust, ousting her and Siegel as co-custodians and passing control to Lisa Marie’s two adult children, Keough and her brother Ben , to transfer died in 2020 by suicide. Lisa Marie is also survived by twin girls, 14-year-old Finley and Harper, whom she shared with ex-husband Michael Lockwood.

However, Priscilla considers the 2016 Amendment to be invalid, writing in her court filing that “there are many issues surrounding the authenticity and validity of the alleged 2016 Amendment”. These issues include that Priscilla’s name was misspelled in the document, Lisa Marie’s signature does not look like her usual signature, and the document “was never delivered to (Priscilla) during Lisa Marie Presley’s lifetime, as per the express terms.” prescribe the trust. ”

So Priscilla went to court to make sure Keough, 33, isn’t left alone with everything. A representative of the historic tourist attraction prior to filing her lawsuit to the New York Post on January 17: “The trust (which includes Graceland) goes to Lisa Marie’s daughters Riley, Finley and Harper.”

Priscilla has always been very protective of Graceland, where she and Elvis lived during their marriage. In September 2019, during a Appeared on Hallmark Channel’s “Home & Family.” she said she was careful to open it to the public 1982

“It was very difficult, not just a little bit, it was really difficult,” she said. “Because it’s still a home, but it’s always felt that way. When you walk into Graceland today, you feel like you’re walking into the home of someone who still lives there, you feel like they’re still there. I walk through that door and I still feel his presence, I can still hear the music playing in the background with the piano room.”

“So, for people to come in,” she continued, “I had to solve it in a way that made so many people happy and they were so respectful.”

Keough, whose new Amazon series — Daisy Jones & The Six — debuts March 3, has not publicly commented on her grandmother’s legal action regarding the trust.