Priscilla Presley has filed a legal challenge disputing the validity of daughter Lisa Marie‘s will.
Lisa Marie, singer-songwriter and only child of Elvis, died at the age of 54 earlier this month following a cardiac arrest.
In the court court filing, Priscilla disputes an amendment to Lisa Marie’s living trust – a legal arrangement that allows people to decide how assets are managed and while they are alive, but distributed after their death – that ousted Priscilla and a former business manager, Barry Siegel, as trustees.
The “purported” amendment named Lisa Marie’s children Riley Keough and Benjamin Keough as “as successor co-trustees of the trust” upon her death. Benjamin died in 2020, aged 27.
Priscilla’s lawyers claim that were “many issues surrounding the authenticity and validity” of the amendment, including a misspelling of Priscilla’s name supposedly signed by her daughter, and a failure to notify her of the change.
The signature by Lisa Marie also “appears inconsistent with her usual and customary signature”, according to the court filing (via BBC).
Lawyers also said she only became aware of the 2016 amendment after Lisa Marie’s death.
“Based on the foregoing, the Purported 2016 Amendment should be deemed invalid and the Trust, as amended and completely restated in 2010 is the controlling and authoritative document and its terms administered,” the petition reads.
Earlier this month it was reported that Lisa Marie’s surviving three children – actor Riley Keough, 33, and twins Harper and Finley Lockwood, 14 – will reportedly inherit her Graceland estate.
The late singer’s public memorial service was held on January 22, where Alanis Morissette, Billy Corgan and Axl Rose were among those to pay tribute.
The memorial service took place on the front lawn of the Presley family’s Graceland home and museum in Memphis, Tennessee.
At the ceremony Priscilla Presley and Riley Keough revealed that Lisa Marie had just become a grandmother during an emotional memorial tribute.
Priscilla Presley has since taken to Twitter to thank fans for their overwhelming support.
“Thank you all for your condolences, you have touched me with your words. It has been a very difficult time but just knowing your love is out there makes a difference,” she wrote.
