This week, Priscilla Presley fought against the will of her late daughter Lisa Marie Presley. This could lead to a fight between family members and a lengthy legal battle over who will run Elvis’s large estate.
According to court records in Los Angeles, Presley was trying to get rid of a 2016 deal that replaced her and Barry Siegel (Lisa Marie’s former manager) as co-trustees of her trust with Riley and Benjamin Keough. The deal had just recently come to light.
She also speculated that her daughter’s signature was falsified.
Analysts expect that the court will eventually grant Priscilla’s appeal. This is because the materials she gave had strong evidence that someone was involved in making the 2016 agreement.
She also said that she had been left out of talks about changing Lisa Marie’s trust, which strengthened her case
Priscilla was also concerned about how Elvis’ assets would be handled if she was not appointed trustee.
Several legal professionals believe that Priscilla is the best person to manage this money because of her vast expertise in handling his estate since his death and overseeing its growth into a multi-million dollar empire.
Benny Roshan, a lawyer at Greenberg Glusker and head of the firm’s Trusts and Probate Litigation Group, thinks Priscilla Presley has a good case for what she wants.
He stated that the charges raised are concerning. Lisa Marie Presley’s new appeal has brought their private disagreement about Elvis’s money into the open, but it doesn’t look like it’s between mother and daughter.
Lisa Marie set up this trust in 1993, and both her mother and Siegel were named co-trustees. The document says how his estate should be handled and who should get what when it is split up.
According to family sources, Priscilla disagreed with some of these arrangements. She filed a lawsuit against Siegel, accusing him of mishandling trust money and using his friendship with Lisa Marie’s mother to get what he wanted.
While it has not been stated whether this would result in a more public rivalry between the two women or any other family member, Priscilla appears to be determined to ensure Elvis’ assets are managed according to his intentions.
Lisa Marie Presley’s mother, Priscilla Presley, just found an updated copy of her daughter’s will after she died. In this version of the contract, it said that Priscilla and Lisa Marie would be replaced if Priscilla died.
But when Priscilla looked at the supplement more closely, she found that how it was written differed from how things should have been done according to the original trust.
For example, there were spelling issues on the date, which made her doubt that it was a genuine document. Also, her signature on the page didn’t look like her usual signature and wasn’t seen by anyone or notarized.
Cynthia Brittain (Karlin & Peebles) and other experts in this field think these are valid concerns to raise in light of what they said. If all of their arguments are proven to be correct, they should expect reasonably clear case law to be used to address any potential conflicts.
Roshan says that under California law, all of the instructions in a legal document must be followed, and the initial trust agreement shows how changes can be made.
California law says that Priscilla has a good reason to object to the proposed change because it must follow the already set procedure.
When asked for her thoughts on the topic, Fox Rothschild partner Sarah J. Wentz agreed. She thinks that Priscilla has every right to stay on as trustee unless Riley can show that Priscilla is biased against him and won’t act fairly and objectively in his best interests.
Riley may have a hard time, but the law is clear, and Priscilla is likely to keep her job as trustee as long as she follows it.
Priscilla Presley says that the lack of language in the signature on the modification may make it more likely that fraud will happen.
Ryan Sellers, a lawyer at Hales & Sellers in Dallas, Texas, says that if the validity of the signature is questioned and the court has to look into it, a jury could decide.
But because Elvis Presley’s lawsuit is about trust, California probate law doesn’t allow juries to hear the case. As a result, any disagreements must be resolved without using a jury.
The hard part is figuring out if a change was signed and caught legally or if fraud happened. The problem is made worse because language after the signs could only be used as a guide.
This makes it hard to tell if the change was tampered with or just an administrative mistake when it was being planned and carried out.
Also, Priscilla Presley lives in California, which has probate laws that limit jury trials in trust cases. This means that any problems must be solved without a jury trial.
On Friday, Priscilla Presley said the legal problem had not caused any family problems. She also said that she would always love Elvis and that Lisa Marie resulted from their relationship.
Even though this is said, it is common for a person’s family to disagree with changes made during their lifetime.
Riley Keough, Priscilla Presley’s daughter, didn’t want to say anything when the reporter asked her about her mother’s filing.
Lisa Marie has three more children – actor Riley Keough, 33, and twins Harper and Finley Lockwood with two ex-husbands – who have yet to comment on the situation. Unfortunately, Lisa Marie’s son Benjamin died in 2020 at 27.
Elvis and Priscilla still talk to each other is an integral part of their legacies and a reminder of how long they were friends.
Throughout their lives together, they developed a strong bond based on unconditional love, which resulted in the birth of their beautiful daughter Lisa Marie. Anyone who suggests differently is disrespecting Elvis’ memory and legacy.
Although Lisa Marie’s legacy has evolved through time, her ownership of Elvis Presley’s estate and Graceland remains essential to her. According to the estate website, she still has several stuff from her father, including his clothes, honors, automobiles, and other belongings.
A former Graceland spokesman disclosed that Lisa Marie had placed the property in trust for the benefit of her two children for them to operate it as she had intended when she formed the Elvis Presley Trust.
The managing partner at Elvis Presley Enterprises, Joel Weinshanker, said that Lisa Marie is sure that her children will carry her legacy.
She expected them to care as much as she did about keeping her father’s legacy alive and taking care of his wealth.
Lisa Marie aspired to keep Elvis’ memory alive by delivering delight to fans through new experiences and possibilities at Graceland through this trust.
Lisa Marie Presley and her former manager, Barry Siegel, went to court in 2018.
The court filed a petition saying that Siegel had already resigned or was planning to resign as a co-trustee of Priscilla Presley’s estate and that Riley Keough, Lisa Marie’s daughter, would take his place.
Nevertheless, according to Brittain, Riley is still deciding if he wants to take on the co-trustee role in Priscilla’s inheritance, which might influence any court decision.
Conflict can appear within the relationships when a family suffers a significant loss. Someone, for example, may desire ownership of the deceased person’s assets to keep them near to them.
This could be the case for the petitioner, who wants her granddaughter to be close to her by influencing their joint inheritance.
Even though both parties may benefit from being chosen as co-trustees, this may only sometimes be in their best interests if they can’t settle any disagreements while working together.
Corporate trustees are often helpful in these situations because they act as impartial third parties who keep an eye on and manage the assets without taking sides or favoring one side over another.
Corporate trustees are also better suited to deal with complex financial issues and guarantee that all legal obligations are completed.
Furthermore, if two family members disagree about how the estate should be administered, corporate trustees can help mediate such disagreements and provide helpful advice on managing finances responsibly.
