CNN
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As Lisa Marie Presley’s three daughters stand to inherit her property and their grandmother is contesting the validity of her late daughter’s will, some near the household say the authorized dispute now in a California court docket displays a Presley household historical past of battle over cash.
4 days after Lisa Marie Presley’s Graceland memorial service, Priscilla Presley filed a petition difficult a 2016 modification in her daughter’s will. The change eliminated Priscilla Presley and former enterprise supervisor, Barry Siegel, as co-trustees and changed them along with her youngsters, Riley and Benjamin Keough. Benjamin Keough later died in 2020.
Priscilla Presley’s petition alleges that she didn’t obtain discover of the modification whereas her daughter was alive as was required by her Belief. The petition additionally notes that Priscilla’s title is misspelled within the doc, alleges the modification was not witnessed or notarized and questions the authenticity of Lisa Marie’s signature.
Keough has not but responded to the petition. CNN has contacted her representatives for remark.
Two people who had been longtime buddies of Lisa Marie Presley spoke to CNN in regards to the property dispute. CNN just isn’t naming the chums as they weren’t licensed to talk publicly on behalf of the household.
One buddy alleged Priscilla Presley’s petition is a “cash seize.”
“That is about Graceland and the memorabilia that Elvis left to Lisa Marie,” the supply mentioned. “Lisa was the only inheritor to his property. She and her mom had been estranged for the final a number of years. Lisa didn’t need her mom overseeing the property. I imagine Priscilla is after cash and what’s inside Graceland.”
Priscilla and Lisa Marie Presley’s relationship was strained over time, the chums mentioned, by their respective marriages and divorces, monetary mismanagement, and private trauma that has performed out within the public eye as the previous spouse and the one youngster of the “King of Rock and Roll,” respectively.
CNN made a number of makes an attempt to succeed in Priscilla Presley’s legal professional to hunt touch upon this story. We now have not heard again.
In an Instagram submit on Wednesday to commemorate what would have been Lisa Marie’s fifty fifth birthday, Priscilla Presley described her efforts to like and defend her daughter.
“My want is to guard my three grandchildren and preserve our household collectively,” she wrote. “From the primary second I held Lisa in my arms, I’ve protected, cherished and guided her, as I’ve my son. Our hearts are damaged, and I’m having to be taught to stay with out my solely daughter.”
Priscilla and Elvis Presley divorced in 1973. Lisa Marie Presley was the only heir of Graceland and her father’s property when he died in 1977. Priscilla Presley remodeled the property right into a profitable vacationer attraction and museum, held in a belief for Lisa Marie Presley till she turned 25.
In 2004, Lisa Marie bought 85% of Elvis Presley Enterprises’ belongings in a deal reportedly value greater than $100 million. She retained 15% possession of Elvis Presley Enterprises, which manages operations for Graceland, its associated properties and the Graceland Archives. Lisa Marie additionally maintained full possession of the Graceland mansion itself and her late father’s private gadgets housed in its museum, together with costumes and vehicles on show, in response to the Graceland web site.
A belief with the Graceland property and its contents will now go on to her daughter, Riley Keough, an achieved actress and mannequin, alongside along with her twin 14-year-old sisters, a consultant for Graceland confirmed to CNN.
Keough has made a number of movies and starred within the first season of the Starz anthology sequence, “The Girlfriend Expertise.”
“Riley is a classy, 33-year-old girl who’s greater than able to operating the property easily,” the second shut buddy of Lisa Marie Presley advised CNN.
In 2020, a Presley government advised Rolling Stone that the property was value between $400 and $500 million. Lisa Marie Presley yearly earned seven figures from her curiosity within the property, primarily based on a court docket submitting in her 2022 divorce.
So, now within the petition by Priscilla Presley difficult Lisa Marie’s will, she has begun a authorized struggle in opposition to her granddaughter.
“That is about gaining management of what’s left of Elvis’ property,” one shut buddy alleged of Priscilla Presley’s petition. “It’s unhappy.”
Brigitte Kruse, a memorabilia auctioneer, is listed as an attorney-in-fact for Priscilla on her petition.
Benny Roshan, Chair of the Belief and Probate Litigation Group at Greenberg Glusker with property regulation experience, advised CNN an attorney-in-fact is likely to be designated in conditions the place a person is both “unable, unwilling, [or] unavailable” to behave.
“This type of raises the query of which of these three eventualities necessitates Priscilla submitting a lawsuit by way of her attorney-in-fact,” Roshan mentioned.
Kruse and her husband began Kruse GWS Auctions Inc. in 2009, in response to the corporate’s web site. They’ve collaborated with Priscilla Presley on Elvis memorabilia auctions previously, although it’s unclear what the phrases of their monetary partnership could also be.
“My relationship with Ms. Presley was established years in the past,” Kruse mentioned in a press release to CNN. “My whole grownup profession has been dedicated to validating and defending the legacy of Elvis Presley. It has been an honor to be one of many many conservators of the Presley household.”
In August, CNN reported that Kruse organized an public sale of “misplaced” jewellery belonging to Elvis Presley.
“It was … a group that we (had) all heard about,” Kruse advised CNN in an e-mail on the time. “It actually was a fable and a legend till we put our fingers on it.”
Priscilla Presley helped curate the sale and expressed in an interview with Reuters that she hoped her involvement would assist fight the proliferation of pretend Elvis memorabilia, including: “I wish to know for positive that that’s going to go to somebody who’s going to take care of it, adore it.”
“Elvis deserved for this assortment to be discovered and displayed to be able to protect his legacy,” Kruse mentioned in a press launch. “The followers additionally wanted to learn about this assortment after 50 years, and the entire tales hooked up to every piece.”
Dozens extra Elvis Presley memorabilia gadgets had been listed as a part of an “artifacts of Hollywood and music” public sale that started in December 2022.
Kruse advised Reuters that the gadgets, similar to an tackle ebook that belonged to the “It’s Now or By no means” singer, had elevated in worth since Lisa Marie Presley’s dying in an interview printed final week.
In line with a press launch, “The phone tackle ebook is properly documented by a private recollection by Priscilla Presley including to its distinctive provenance.” It bought for $10,000, primarily based on data on the public sale web site.
Elvis Presley’s life and profession returned to the highlight in an enormous method final summer season with the Warner Bros. movie “Elvis,” starring actor Austin Butler within the title position. Priscilla and Lisa Marie Presley collaborated in help of the challenge. They appeared collectively on the Golden Globe Awards for the movie in January, simply days earlier than Lisa Marie’s dying. (CNN and Warner Bros. are each a part of Warner Bros. Discovery).
Away from the highlight, nevertheless, considered one of Lisa Marie Presley’s buddies advised CNN there was rigidity between the mom and daughter.
“They placed on a united entrance for the movie. It’s a household enterprise they usually knew that in the event that they started publicly battling it might damage the underside line,” the buddy mentioned. “It was a sophisticated relationship.”
