Sophia Michaels
In the wake of her daughter’s sudden death two weeks ago, Priscilla Presley is asking a California judge to step in and reject an alleged 2016 amendment to Lisa Marie Presley’s living trust as “invalid.”
Elvis’s widow claims in a new court filing that since Lisa Marie’s Jan. 12 death, she has “discovered” a disputed document seeking to remove her and former business manager Barry Siegel as co-trustees of her daughter’s Promenade Trust. The origins of the alleged amendment were not clear from the 2016 filing.
The alleged amendment, dated March 11, 2016, names Lisa Marie’s daughter Riley Keough and now-deceased son Benjamin Keough as replacement co-trustees, the new filing in Los Angeles County probate court reads.
The position is a powerful one. According to SEC filings, The Promenade Trust retained a 15 percent interest in Elvis Presley Enterprises — the company that controls Graceland and the licensing of Elvis Presley’s intellectual property — after Lisa Marie sold an 85 percent share of the business for $50 million in cash, more than $22 million in stock and the repayment of debts topping $25 million in 2005.
“There are many issues surrounding the authenticity and validity of the purported 2016 amendment,” Priscilla and her lawyer claim in the new 13-page filing obtained by Rolling Stone.
They allege the document was “never delivered” to Priscilla during Lisa Marie’s lifetime, as required by “express terms” of the trust agreement, that it misspells Priscilla’s name, that it wasn’t witnessed or notarized and that “Lisa Marie’s signature appears inconsistent with her usual and customary signature.”
Importantly, they say the signature page does not contain any text of the actual amendment “which can present a higher risk for fraud.”
For these reasons, they’re asking for a court order “determining that the purported 2016 amendment is invalid, confirming the validity and existence of the restated 2010 trust, and confirming that petitioner is a current trustee of the trust.”
Priscilla’s lawyer, Brian M. Malloy, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Rolling Stone.
TMZ, which first reported the court filing, characterized the filing as a “contentious” move that pits Priscilla against her granddaughter, Riley Keough. But Riley remains one of the trust’s beneficiaries along with her two surviving sisters, Finley and Harper Lockwood, regardless. Benjamin Keough died by suicide in 2020.
At Lisa Marie’s funeral, both Priscilla and Riley Keough shared emotional tributes to the singer who died at age 54 after being treated for cardiac arrest at her Calabasas home. Lisa Marie’s official cause of death has been deferred by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner pending “more investigation.”
