Elvis Presley’s granddaughter Riley Keough has been named sole trustee of the family estate and now owns Graceland after a fight with her grandmother Priscilla.
The nomination was approved earlier today at a hearing before Los Angeles Supreme Court Justice Lynn Healey Scaduto. Deadline reported.
Her grandmother Priscilla Presley filed a petition in January to challenge the validity of her late daughter Lisa Marie Presley’s will
The two have been at odds since Lisa Marie’s death in January this year at the age of 54.
The legal process challenged a 2016 amendment to Lisa Marie’s will that excluded Priscilla as administrator of the estate.
Riley Keough speaks onstage during Deadline Contenders Television at Directors Guild Of America on April 15, 2023
Riley Keough, Lisa Marie Presley and Priscilla Presley at a special screening of ELVIS, Memphis, TN, June 11, 2022
The Presley family estate is now owned by Keough, the granddaughter of Elvis Presley
Lawyers for Priscilla said she was not aware of the change until after her daughter’s death.
The amendment removed Priscilla and Lisa Marie’s former business manager Barry Siegel, replacing them with Lisa Marie’s children Riley and Benjamin Keough.
Benjamin died in 2020 after shooting himself at the family mansion, according to sources who revealed he was going through a rough time at the time.
Keough reached an agreement with her grandmother in June of this year, agreeing to pay her $1.4 million.
She will now chair the sub-trusts for her half-sisters Harper and Finley Lockwood, daughters of Lisa Marie’s fourth husband Michael Lockwood.
For her role, Priscilla Presley will be a special advisor to the trusts and will receive a monthly fee for her role.
Priscilla may also be buried in Graceland, Elvis Presley’s home in Memphis, which Keough will now own.
The last known photo of Lisa Marie was taken just days before she died at the 80th Annual Golden Globe Awards
Priscilla may also be buried in Graceland, Elvis Presley’s home in Memphis, which Keough now owns
Keough’s attorney had previously said she would invest the money “in a manner consistent with the needs of the beneficiaries and unaffected by a trustee’s wishes.”
The whole vindictive legal battle came after the death of Lisa Marie, who passed away suddenly at the age of 54 at her home in Calabasas.
Sources close to Keough previously told DailyMail.com that she was “still grieving” the loss of her mother and was angry when her grandmother challenged the will legally.
When the legal battle between Keough and Priscilla broke out, Keough hoped they could settle quickly,” the source said.
The source said the tension with Priscilla was “very hard for” Keough, who is mother to a baby girl with husband Ben Smith-Petersen.
Keough always supported her mother through her lengthy, often vexing divorce and custody disputes with her fourth husband, musician Michael Lockwood, 62, father of Lisa Marie’s twin, 14-year-old daughters, Finley and Harper.
Finley Lockwood, Lisa Marie Presley, Priscilla Presley, Riley Keough and Harper Lockwood Three Generations of Presley’s Hand and Footprint Ceremony, Los Angeles, California, June 21, 2022
Lisa Marie Presley poses for her first photograph, in the lap of her mother, Priscilla, on February 5, 1968, with her father, Elvis Presley
It has been reported that Priscilla and Lisa Marie “barely spoke” just before the latter’s death after Priscilla sided with Lockwood over custody of the twins.
Multiple sources told People that the mother and daughter couldn’t speak to each other despite appearing at multiple events together, including the premiere of the Elvis biopic starring Austin Butler.
“Riley was always on her mother’s side when it came to Michael (Lockwood),” a source told the magazine. “It bothered her that her grandmother and Michael flew to (Lisa Marie’s) funeral together.”