BlinkDash

When Lisa Marie Presley passed away earlier this year, she was survived by her three daughters and heiresses, Riley Keough and twins Harper and Finley Lockwood, who are still minors. Lisa Marie always made it clear that she wanted Riley to take over her estate and deal with the web of financial dramas set up by Priscilla Presley. Lisa Marie’s body was barely cold when Priscilla marched into court and tried to invalidate LM’s will and block Riley from taking over her mother’s estate. What followed was several months of legal shenanigans. Everything seemingly ended in June, when Riley gave her grandmother a one-time lump sum payment of about $1.4 million and Priscilla dropped her attempts to invalidate the will. It felt like Graceland – Elvis’s former mansion, now a massive tourist attraction – was still going to be under Priscilla’s purview in some way, but as it turns out, not so much. Riley now owns everything from her mother’s estate.

Riley Keough, the grandchild of Elvis Presley, today was named the sole trustee of the estate of her late mother, Lisa Marie Presley. The appointment was approved during a hearing Friday before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lynn Healey Scaduto.

Priscilla Presley had filed a petition to challenge the validity of her late daughter Lisa Marie’s will in January. The legal action disputed a 2016 amendment to Lisa Marie’s will that excised Priscilla as trustee of the estate. Priscilla Presley’s attorneys said she only became aware of the “purported 2016 amendment” after Lisa Marie’s death. Lawyers also contend the amendment was never delivered to their client during Lisa Marie’s lifetime. The amendment removes Priscilla and Lisa Marie’s former business manager, Barry Siegel, as co-trustees and replaces them with Lisa Marie’s eldest children Riley and Benjamin Keough. The latter died in 2020.

The Daisy Jones & the Six star filed a 73-page petition on June 12 in support of her bid for the appointment to head what the family has dubbed the Promenade Trust. Keough had earlier reached a settlement agreement with Priscilla Presley and Michael Lockwood, the guardian ad litem for her two younger half-siblings, 14-year-old twins Harper and Finley Lockwood. Lockwood was Lisa Marie’s fourth husband before they divorced.

The 34-year-old Keough, whose real name is Danielle Riley Keough, also will preside over the sub-trusts for her half-sisters. Priscilla Presley will be a special adviser to the trust and receive a monthly payment for her role. Priscilla Presley also will be allowed to be buried at Graceland, the Memphis, Tennessee former home of Elvis Presley, which Keough will now own.

[From Deadline]

All of this makes Riley the sole owner and guardian of Graceland. I’m surprised by the news that Riley reached an agreement with Michael Lockwood as well – Lisa Marie and Lockwood were engaged in a long-running custodial battle over Harper and Finley. I suspect that Riley is simply a good person with great lawyers – she never seemed to “go to the mattresses” with her grandmother or Lockwood. She dealt with everything privately and quietly and she walked away with all of the power. And, I mean, this is actually what Lisa Marie wanted – she wanted Riley to inherit everything, despite what Priscilla claims now. I feel so sorry for Riley though – she gave birth to her daughter late last year, then she was deeply grieving for her mom, and dealing with all of this family and financial drama.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

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