Actress Priscilla Presley has filed a petition to challenge the validity of her late daughter Lisa Marie Presley’s will. Lisa Marie died on January 12 at age 54 after suffering cardiac arrest.
Her mother’s legal action disputes a 2016 amendment to Lisa Marie’s will that excised Priscilla as trustee of the estate. However, Priscilla Presley’s lawyers argue that the document misspelled her name and bears a signature that “appears inconsistent with (Lisa Marie’s) usual and customary signature,” according to multiple media reports.
In the filing to the Los Angeles Superior Court last Thursday, 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, “as required by the express terms of the trust,” and that the document was neither witnessed nor notarized.
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.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the filing notes that Priscilla Presley believes Siegel “has already or will soon resign as co-trustee” which would see Riley Keough appointed co-trustee with her grandmother.
“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 says.
A public memorial service was held for Lisa Marie last week at Graceland, during which Priscilla shared a poem by one of Lisa Marie’s daughters and said, “Our heart is broken, Lisa. We all love you.”
