Priscilla Presley settles suit for Lisa Marie Presley estate

Lisa Marie Presley, from left, Priscilla Presley and Riley Keough, family members of the late singer Elvis Presley, write their names in cement during a hand and footprint ceremony in their honor on Tuesday, June 21, 2022, at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

Priscilla Presley and the estate of her late daughter Lisa Marie Presley have reached a settlement of their lawsuit which involved control of Graceland, Elvis Presley’s iconic Memphis home and final resting place.

While the terms of the settlement have not been made public, lawyers for Lisa Marie Presley’s estate told a Los Angeles judge Tuesday that the family dispute over Lisa Marie’s trust has been resolved.

The settlement is subject to court approval.

The deal resolves a dispute Priscilla Presley raised that challenged the validity of an amendment to the will of Lisa Marie Presley.

Lisa Marie, her famous father’s sole heir, inherited $100 million on her 25th birthday back in 1993. Because some of those assets were reportedly sold, mismanaged, and squandered, the current value of her holdings are unclear. However, Lisa Marie sold 85% of her inherited assets in 2005, including publishing rights to 650 Elvis songs, for approximately $100 million. Lisa Marie also retained a 15% interest in Graceland Holdings, the parent company of Elvis Presley Enterprises, which operates Graceland, Elvis’s famed Memphis home.

Graceland is a 13-acre residence that was transformed into a major tourist destination that includes a massive collection of memorabilia. Elvis, his daughter Lisa Marie, and Lisa Marie’s son Benjamin Keough who died by suicide at age 27 in 2020, are buried next to each other on the Graceland property.

Lisa Marie died suddenly in January 2023, leaving behind three children: 14-year-old twin daughters Harper and Finley Lockwood, and 33-year-old daughter and breakout star of “Daisy Jones and the Six,” Riley Keough. Lisa Marie was unmarried at the time of her death but had been married four times — to Danny Keough, Michael Lockwood, pop superstar Michael Jackson, and actor Nicolas Cage.

Upon Lisa Marie’s death, her assets were held in a living trust which named two co-trustees to distribute assets. The initial trust documents from 2010 named Priscilla and Lisa Marie’s former business manager Barry Siegel as co-trustees.

A 2016 amendment to Lisa Marie’s trust shifted control to Benjamin and Riley Keough. However, because Benjamin predeceased his mother, the legal effect of such an amendment would transfer control solely to Riley as the remaining trustee.

Priscilla filed a petition shortly after her daughter’s death contesting the 2016 amendment and asking that she and Siegel be revived as co-trustees per the 2010 version of the trust. Priscilla claimed that several irregularities in the amendment meant that it should be invalidated.

Lisa Marie’s relationship with Siegel, however, was fraught with its own legal battles. Siegel and Lisa Marie became involved in a 2018 lawsuit when Lisa Marie sued her former manager for squandering her massive inheritance and he counterclaimed alleging that Lisa Marie had actually mismanaged funds. Before she died, Lisa Marie appeared to settle the lawsuit with Siegel though court records did not disclose further details.

In addition to disputes over the trust and the amendment, Lisa Marie was reported to have opened over $35 million in life insurance policies shortly before her death, naming her three surviving children as beneficiaries. Although life insurance policies are generally unrelated trusts or estates, policies begun in close proximity to an insured’s death could create stumbling blocks for beneficiaries.

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