Today, Riley Keough, who is Elvis Presley’s granddaughter, has been made the sole trustee of her late mother Lisa Marie Presley’s estate and her trust fund. The appointment was authorized at a hearing Friday before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lynn Healey Scaduto, after her grandmother Priscilla Presley filed a lawsuit in January to contest the legality of Lisa Marie’s will.
Why did Priscilla Presley file a petition for Lisa Marie’s estate?
Priscilla had questioned the legality of her daughter Lisa Marie’s will, which granted Keough ownership of the trust. Priscilla claimed in a statement recently that the matter was not a lawsuit against her granddaughter, but rather a “plea to the court and request for document interpretation.” Priscilla alleges Lisa Marie’s signature on the paper was “inconsistent” with previous signings and that her name was misspelled.
The family conflict developed after it was revealed that a 2016 update to Lisa Marie Presley’s living trust supposedly removed her mother, Priscilla Presley, and Barry Siegel, her previous business manager, as beneficiaries and swapped them with Lisa Marie’s two eldest children, Riley Keough and Benjamin Keough.
What is the court’s ruling on this case?
According to court records that the family wanted to keep confidential, Keough earlier agreed to resolve the case for what looks to be $1 million dollars. She agreed to pay Priscilla up to $400,000 in legal expenses as well for costs associated with the petition questioning who should receive Lisa Marie’s trust fund and estate. According to the terms of the settlement, Keough will be the sole trustee, while Priscilla will be retained as a “special adviser” to the trust, with a monthly stipend.
Keough, whose true name is Danielle Riley Keough, will also preside over sub-trusts for her half-sisters Harper and Finley Lockwood. Priscilla Presley is also allowed to be buried at Graceland, the name of the estate which formerly belonged to Elvis and now to Keough.