Priscilla Presley has challenged the “authenticity and validity” of an amendment made to the will of her late daughter Lisa Marie Presley.
Lisa Marie, the only daughter of rock’n’roll legend Elvis Presley, died on January 13 at the age of 54 after a suspected cardiac arrest.
She was the sole heir to Elvis’ fortune after his death in 1977.
Lisa Marie gained access to her father’s wealth – along with his iconic Graceland estate – when she turned 25 in 1993.
In an amendment to her will in 2016, Lisa Marie had named two of her children, Riley and Benjamin Keough, as co-trustees of her estate.
However, Benjamin’s death by suicide in 2020 left his sister Riley the sole trustee. Lisa Marie also had two other daughters, 14-year-old twins Harper and Finley Lockwood.
On Monday (Australian time), it emerged that Priscilla had questioned details of her daughter’s will, alleging an amendment in 2016 could have been forged.
Presley filed court documents in the Los Angeles Superior Court on January 27, in which she alleges that an amendment to Lisa Marie’s will featured an invalid signature.
Presley alleges that she and Lisa Marie’s former business manager Barry Siegel were initially named co-trustees. They were removed in 2016 when Lisa Marie made her final amendments.
In her court filing, Priscilla says her name is misspelled in the 2016 amendment, and alleges that Lisa Marie’s signature was not witnessed or notarised.
She also says Lisa Marie’s signature “appears inconsistent with her usual and customary signature”.
Lisa Marie, with children Harper Lockwood, Riley Keough, and Finley Lockwood, and mum Priscilla in June last year. Photo: Getty
According to the terms of the trust, Priscilla and all trustees must be made aware upon their removal from the will. But Priscilla claims that she was never notified.
She has asked a judge to deem the 2016 amendment invalid, and wants the 2010 trust reinstated, with herself and Siegel as trustees.
While Siegel was once attached to Lisa Marie’s will, it’s considered unlikely that she would have wanted him to have any claim to her estate.
They had a long professional relationship, having worked together from 1993 until 2016.
However, their relationship eventually soured, with Lisa Marie suing Siegel in 2018 and accusing him of mismanaging her $100 million inheritance.
In her lawsuit, Lisa Marie claimed she had just $14,000 left to her name, along with $500,000 of debt.
In her court filing, Priscilla said she believed Siegel “has already or will soon resign as a co-trustee of the trust.”
“Accordingly, in such event, Riley would become a co-trustee with [Priscilla] with respect to the trust and all trust created thereunder. Notwithstanding the foregoing, since Riley is over the age of 30, she may act as a co-trustee of her subtrust upon delivering a written instrument signed by her consenting to act in such capacity,” the filing reads.
Ms Keough is yet to address the estate battle.
Days after Lisa Marie’s death, a Graceland representative confirmed to People that the property would go to Ms Keough and her twin sisters, Harper and Finley.
‘Dark journey’
While Ms Keough remains tight-lipped on the details of her mother’s will, the 33-year-old actor shared a touching tribute to Lisa Marie on Instagram.
She said it was her final photo with her mother.
Days earlier, she had shared a sepia-toned image from her childhood, a young Ms Keough holding flowers while a smiling Lisa Marie looked down on her.
On the same day she submitted her court filing, Priscilla opened up about grieving for her late daughter. She said she was “truly overwhelmed” by the support she had received after Lisa Marie’s sudden death.
“To YOU, I’m truly overwhelmed with your words, your prayers, your love and your support. Thank you from the bottom of my heart in trying to help me get through this loss,” she wrote.
“Every parent who has lost a daughter or son knows what a dark painstaking journey it is,” she said, along with a broken-heart emoji.
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