The legal battle for Lisa Marie Presley’s estate has come to an end, with Riley Keough being named as the sole trustee.
Keough, who is the daughter of Lisa Marie Presley and also stars in Amazon Prime miniseries Daisy Jones & The Six, moved to approve the deal on Monday (June 12) at the Los Angeles Superior Court.
Her grandmother, Priscilla Presley, is set to receive an undisclosed amount to drop her petition against a 2016 amendment to Lisa Marie’s will, which replaced her as a co-trustee.
The future of the estate was thrown into question following Lisa Marie’s sudden death in January. Aged 54, she was the daughter of both Priscilla and Elvis Presley, and passed away after being hospitalised for suffering cardiac arrest.
“It is with a heavy heart that I must share the devastating news that my beautiful daughter Lisa Marie has left us,” Priscilla said in a statement at the time, announcing the news. “She was the most passionate, strong and loving woman I have ever known.”
Following the death of her father – who was hailed as the King of Rock n’ Roll – Lisa Marie became the sole inheritor of his estate. The estate was also managed by her mother, Priscilla, who was married to the ‘Suspicious Minds’ singer between 1967 and 1973.
When the trust was dissolved on Lisa Marie’s 25th birthday (1993), she formed a new trust, which also retained her mother as manager of the estate and co-trustee.
However, earlier this year, Priscilla Presley filed a legal challenge disputing the validity of daughter Lisa Marie‘s will, after it was reportedly altered in 2016 to remove Priscilla and a former business manager, Barry Siegel, as trustees.
The “purported” amendment named Lisa Marie’s children Riley Keough and Benjamin Keough as “successor co-trustees of the trust” upon her death. Benjamin died in 2020, aged 27.
Priscilla’s lawyers claimed that there were “many issues surrounding the authenticity and validity” of the amendment, including a misspelling of Priscilla’s name supposedly signed by her daughter, and a failure to notify her of the change.
They also claimed that the signature by Lisa Marie also “appears inconsistent with her usual and customary signature”, according to the court filing (via BBC News).
Legal counsel for Priscilla and Keough reached an agreement over Lisa Marie’s trust in May, and, according to People, Priscilla said at the time that the “Presley family is stronger than ever.”
Now, as published by The Hollywood Reporter, it has been confirmed that Riley Keough will be the sole trustee of the estate, and Priscilla will receive an undisclosed amount to drop any legal action against the will.
Following Lisa Marie’s death, a public memorial service was held on January 22, where Alanis Morissette, Billy Corgan and Axl Rose were among those to pay tribute. The memorial service took place on the front lawn of the Presley family’s Graceland home and museum in Memphis, Tennessee.
At the ceremony Priscilla Presley and Riley Keough revealed that Lisa Marie had just become a grandmother during an emotional memorial tribute.
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