The legal fight over Lisa Marie Presley‘s trust has come to an end.
According to People, legal representatives for Priscilla Presley and Riley Keough — the late Lisa Marie’s mother and daughter, respectively — reached a settlement in the battle over the trust, which dates back to January, at a Los Angeles courthouse on Tuesday (May 16).
“They have reached a settlement. Families are happy,” Priscilla’s lawyer, Ronsen Shamoon, says in a statement to press. “Everyone is happy. Unified and together and excited about the future.”
“[Riley] would not have agreed to the settlement if she was not happy with it,” concurs Keough’s lawyer, Justin Gold.
The battle over Lisa Marie’s trust began after Priscilla filed a legal challenge over a “purported” amendment to her daughter’s trust, asking a court to invalidate a change to the trust that named Keough as a co-trustee.
According to documents obtained by NBC at the time, Lisa Marie executed a living trust back in 1993, intended to protect her assets and determine how they would be distributed in the event of her death. The trust was restated in 2010, with Priscilla and Lisa Marie’s former business manager Barry Siegel named as co-trustees. People reports that the trust includes the Graceland mansion and a 15 percent stake in Elvis Presley Enterprises (EPE), which together raked in a reported $110 million in 2022.
After the singer-songwriter and actor’s death, Priscilla discovered a document dated March 11, 2016 which removed both Siegel and herself as co-trustees, replacing them with Lisa Marie’s two children, Riley and Benjamin Keough. Benjamin died in 2020, meaning that according to the 2016 amendment, Lisa Marie’s 33-year-old daughter would become the sole trustee.
In her filing, Priscilla claimed that there were “many issues surrounding the authenticity and validity of the purported 2016 amendment,” including a misspelling of her [Priscilla’s] name. She also alleged that the amendment document was never delivered to her, and that Lisa Marie’s signature on the 2016 document “appears inconsistent with her usual and customary signature.”
However, at the time, a source close to Lisa Marie told People that the singer-songwriter wanted the 2016 amendment to be reflected in the living trust. “Lisa wanted Riley and Ben to be the trustees,” the source said, adding that Lisa Marie also wanted all her children to be the beneficiaries.
As of Tuesday, the exact details of the settlement have not been made public. The next hearing and motion for approval in the case is scheduled for Aug. 4.
Lisa Marie died after suffering cardiac arrest at her California home on Jan. 12. She was 54 years old.
The only child of Elvis Presley and his ex-wife Priscilla, Lisa Marie was laid to rest at Graceland on Jan. 19. She is buried next to her son Benjamin. A public memorial subsequently took place at Graceland on Jan. 22.
PICTURES: See Inside Lisa Marie Presley’s Spectacular California Mansion
Lisa Marie Presley’s final home was a spectacular estate in California, and pictures show an ultra-luxurious property that was a fitting home for rock music royalty.
Lisa Marie Presley Through the Years
Take a look back at the memorable moments from throughout Lisa Marie Presley’s life and career. She died on Jan. 12, 2023 at the age of 54.
Rarely Seen Pictures of Elvis With Lisa Marie Presley
Lisa Marie Presley was nine years old when her father Elvis Presley died in 1977. This gallery of rarely seen family pictures shows how fond the rock n’ roll legend was of his little girl.