Presley’s property battle is brewing.
In a petition filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday, Priscilla Presley defies her daughter’s will, Lisa Marie Presley. questioning the “authenticity and validity” of the 2016 edit that replaced her and former business manager Barry Siegel as co-custodians with Lisa Marie Presley’s daughter Riley Keough and deceased son Benjamin Keough.
Lisa Marie Presley Die on January 12 after suffering a cardiac arrest at her home in Calabasas, California. The singer and the only child of Elvis Presley was 54 years old.
Priscilla Presley and Siegel currently serve as co-chairs of a trust that was set up in 1993 to manage the Presley estate. The Promenade Trust retained a 15 percent stake in Elvis Presley Enterprises, which owns the singer’s intellectual property, after Lisa Marie Presley sold 85 percent of the company’s assets for about $100 million.
After her daughter’s death, Priscilla Presley says she discovered a document altering the trust. She asserts that the amendment was never delivered to her during her daughter’s life, as required by the terms of the trust.
“The foregoing method shall be the exclusive method by which such trust may be revoked or amended, or any modification rescinded,” the petition states, which cites several instances where changes in a trust were found invalid after they were concluded and the trustees were not notified.
Priscilla Presley also notes that the amendment misspells her name and that her daughter’s signature “contradicts her usual and customary signature”. Other inconsistencies in the document include that it was never seen or documented and that the provisions do not appear on the signature page, as is usual.
The petition says Riley Keough is set to become the co-trustee of the trust with Priscilla Presley because Siegel has “already resigned or will be resigning soon.” Priscilla Presley has not resigned as trustee of the trust and plans to continue in that capacity, according to the document.
“The plaintiff respectfully requests an order from this court that the alleged 2016 amendment is invalid,” the lawsuit reads.
Riley Keough is one of the recipients of the fund, along with her sisters. Benjamin Keough died in 2020 by suicide.
Priscilla Presley’s attorney did not immediately respond to requests for comment.