Priscilla Presley has made a challenge to the “authenticity and validity” of Lisa Marie Presley’s will, citing an unusual signature and other allegedly inconsistent details.
Lisa Marie, the only daughter of Priscilla and music icon Elvis Presley, died at 54 on 12 January after suffering cardiac arrest. She was laid to rest on 22 January at Elvis’s Graceland estate.
Priscilla is now calling into question a 2016 amendment to Lisa Marie’s living trust – a document that can serve as a will if a separate document had not been filed at the time of a person’s death.
The amendment removed Priscilla and former business manager Barry Siegel as the trustee of Lisa Marie’s estate and replaced them with two of the “Lights Out” singer’s children: the actor Riley Keough and singer Benjamin Keough, who died by suicide in 2020.
However, according to Priscilla’s legal team, there are issues with the authenticity of the updated document.
Some of the issues include a failure to notify Priscilla of the change, a misspelling of her name in a document allegedly signed by her daughter, as well as a sign-off by Lisa Marie that was “inconsistent with her usual and customary signature”.
A legal petition, filed in Los Angeles last week and obtained by PA news agency, noted that Priscilla and Barry Siegel had been placed in charge of the living trust in 1993 and were reaffirmed in 2010.
The court filing asks the judge to declare the 2016 amendment invalid. It also states that Siegel intended to resign from his trustee position, which would leave Priscilla and her granddaughter Riley as co-trustees of Lisa Marie’s estate.
Lawyers for Priscilla also argue that the amendment was neither witnessed nor notarised.
Last week, Priscilla thanked fans for their support, writing on Twitter: “It has been a very difficult time but just knowing your love is out there makes a difference.”
