Priscilla Presley Reaches Agreement with Her Granddaughter, Riley Keough, Over Lisa Marie Presley's Will

It seems that peace has come to the Presley family. Who was the first and only wife of Elvis, Priscilla Presley, 77, has reached a settlement agreement with her granddaughter, Riley Keough, 33, after several months in which she has questioned the legitimacy of the will of her eldest daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, who died last January because of a heart problem at age 54.

The agreement, made public on Tuesday, May 16, resolves a dispute that arose as a result of an amendment made by Lisa Marie herself in her will in 2016. The legal battle began in late January, just four days after his funeral. Then, Priscilla Presley's lawyers filed a petition in a court in Los Angeles (California) in which they questioned the "authenticity and validity" of said amendment, which eliminated as trustees of the will both Priscilla and the person who helped Lisa Marie with her business, Barry Siegel. Priscilla always disagreed with that change, and hence this disagreement that has lasted months. According to those last wills, the daughter of the late king of rock and roll replaced her mother and Siegel with her children, Riley and Benjamin Keough, born from her marriage to Danny Keough, who was her first husband between 1988 and 1996. After the death of Benjamin Keough, who committed suicide in 2020 with only 27 years, his eldest daughter would be, therefore, the manager of the entire estate of the singer.

More informationPriscilla Presley challenges the will of her daughter Lisa Marie, which comes out badly

"There is agreement, the families are happy, united and excited for the future," said Ronson Shamoun, Priscilla Presley's lawyer, in statements collected by the US press after leaving the hearing that took place in the Superior Court of Los Angeles County (California, USA). Priscilla Presley, for her part, expressed her satisfaction with the agreement in a statement while asking for privacy. "My family has resolved this confusion. As a family, we are pleased to have worked this out together. The Presley family is stronger than ever," he said in the letter. According to Riley Keough's legal representative, Justin Gold, the interpreter is also happy with the resolution: "If not, I would not have agreed to the agreement."

Presley's petition filed last January questioned the validity of those changes to his daughter's will for several reasons: first, because the amendment was not made in the presence of any witnesses or signed before a notary; second, because the change was not communicated to Priscilla Presley in life; and, finally, because his name was misspelled in the document. Thus, Lisa's mother Marie Presley argued that the document should be considered invalid. Now, the dispute has been resolved, but what has not been made public is who will be in charge of managing the estate of Elvis' only daughter, if her mother, if her own daughter, if they will do it between the two or if it will be a third party. What is known is that the resolution must be endorsed with a judicial document signed by both parties before June 12 and in another hearing scheduled for August 4.

Priscilla Presley divorced Elvis in 1973, after six years of marriage, and together they had only Lisa Marie, who maintained until her death control of Graceland, the famous mansion owned by her father in the city of Memphis, Tennessee, visited by tens of thousands of fans every year and in which the star was found dead in August 1977. In that same farm she would be buried last January, the same place where her son is also buried. In her brief professional career, the heiress of the king of rock tried to follow in her father's footsteps and in 2003 released her first album, To Whom it May Concern. This was followed by two more productions, but since 2012 he had not released any new album.

Throughout her life, the only daughter of Elvis and Priscilla Presley had four children and married as many times. Specifically, with musician Danny Keough; pop star Michael Jackson (in a marriage that lasted just 20 months); actor Nicolas Cage (this was even shorter, three and a half months); and with guitarist and producer Michael Lockwood. With the latter he married in 2006 in Japan and had two daughters, twins, Harper and Finley, who in the last years of his life were in the custody of Priscilla.