Well this is a bit scandalous. Less than a month after Lisa Marie Presley‘s death, the family she left behind is going to court. Lisa Marie was buried just nine days ago in Graceland. So sometime after that there must have been a reading of her will. Well, it seems that didn’t go so well.
But it sounds like it wasn’t Priscilla Presley screaming “how could she?” after getting cut out of the will by her daughter. Sounds like it was more “hang on…something isn’t right”.
Priscilla Presley filed a petition on Thursday in the Los Angeles Superior Court to contest Lisa Marie‘s will. And it appears Priscilla has a good reason to do it. Turns out, there are a few things not right with the situation.
A little history…In 1993, a trust was created to manage the Presley estate. Priscilla Presley was named as a co-trustee on the estate. The other trustee being former business manager Barry Siegel. And, up until recently, Priscilla Presley thought she was still a trustee. But shortly after Lisa Marie died, Priscilla found a document she wasn’t expecting. It stated that Lisa Marie‘s trust was changed back in 2016.
What the document allegedly did was amend the trust by removing Priscilla Presley and Barry Siegel as co-trustees. And replacing them with two of Lisa Marie‘s kids, Riley and Benjamin Keough. And since Benjamin died in 2020, Riley would be the sole trustee. That is, if this amendment is found to be valid.
But it seems there might be something shady going on with that document. Or rather a few somethings. CNN obtained the Los Angeles Superior Court filing made by Priscilla on January 26. And the petition has some pretty valid points. So what exactly is Priscilla Presley‘s argument? Here are the key points.
First, the trust specifically says that all trustees must be notified when the trust is amended.
Priscilla Presley says she got no such notification in 2016. She could have gone directly to Lisa Marie when she was still alive if she knew about this amendment then.
Second, Priscilla's name was misspelled in the amendment.
Yeah, that’s a little iffy. You would think a legal document made to take someone off of your estate would have that person’s name spelled correctly.
Third, Lisa Marie's signature was a little...off.
The petition filed states “[The signature] appears inconsistent with [Lisa Marie Presley’s] usual and customary signature” (cnn.com).
Fourth, the document wasn't witnessed or notarized.
When amending any legal document, you have to have both a witness and a notary sign off on it. That didn’t happen here.
It looks like Priscilla Presley has a pretty valid argument for her granddaughter not to become sole trustee of the Elvis Presley estate, at least from a legal standpoint
Regardless of which way this thing goes, there might be some tension in the Presley family’s future. Which is, sadly, probably not what Lisa Marie would have wanted. 🙁
