Update 5/17/23 11:30 a.m. ET
After reaching the settlement with her granddaughter, Priscilla Presley released a statement on Wednesday, May 17.
“My family has resolved all confusion as it relates to our plea to the court and request for document interpretation after my daughter Lisa Marie’s untimely passing,” she told Entertainment Tonight. “Although some media identified such a plea as a lawsuit, I want to make clear that there was never any lawsuit filed against my beloved granddaughter. As a family, we are pleased that we resolved this together.”
Priscilla concluded: “My family and I hope that everyone will grant us the privacy we have needed to properly grieve Lisa Marie and spend personal time together. We love and appreciate all of you and the Presley family is stronger than ever.”
Original story below:
A point of closure. Lisa Marie Presley’s mother, Priscilla Presley, and daughter Riley Keough have reached a settlement in the battle over her trust.
Priscilla’s attorney, Ronson J. Shamoun, shared the news during a Tuesday, May 16, court hearing in Los Angeles, according to CNN. “The parties would like to report that they’ve reached a settlement,” the lawyer told Judge Lynn Scaduto.
Shamoun told reporters outside the court: “Everyone is happy, unified, together and excited for the future.” Details of the settlement were not discussed during the hearing.
A few days after Lisa Marie died of cardiac arrest at age 54 in January, Priscilla, 77, contested her will, which named Keough, 33, as the beneficiary of her mother’s estate. The late “Dirty Laundry” songstress shared Riley and son Benjamin — who died at age 27 in July 2020 — with ex-husband Danny Keough and twin daughters Finley and Harper, 14, with ex-husband Michael Lockwood.
According to court documents obtained by Us Weekly in January, Priscilla called a 2016 amendment made to her daughter’s will —which removed her and Lisa Marie’s former business manager Barry Seigel as co-trustees and replaced them with Riley and her late brother — invalid.
The Naked Gun actress — who was married to Elvis Presley from 1967 to 1973— alleged that the singer-songwriter’s signature appeared to be forged and that the amendment was not witnessed or notarized. Priscilla also claimed that she should have been notified of the change, but never was.
The Daisy Jones & the Six star, for her part, was not surprised by the amendment.
“Riley knew she would be the trustee for her mother, so that was no shock,” a source exclusively told Us in March. “She’s been communicating with her dad and sisters.”
Despite the legal battle between the grandmother and granddaughter, Priscilla’s son, Navarone Garibaldi — whom she shares with ex Marco Garibaldi — denied that there was any bad blood between the women.
“They are fine,” the Them Guns musician, 36, said during an Instagram Live in April. “[There’s] no feud. We did go to dinner [and] it went great, it’s all good.”
Lockwood, 61, meanwhile, also got involved in the estate battle, filing a petition in March to represent his children in the legal proceedings. One month later, the guitarist was officially named the guardian of his and Lisa Marie’s twin daughters in the contentious court battle.
Despite the at-times messy aftermath of the Storm & Grace musician’s death, honoring her legacy was always top priority for Priscilla.
“I loved Elvis very much as he loved me. Lisa is a result of our love,” the Love Is Forever actress said in a February statement to E! News. “For anyone to think anything differently would be a travesty of the family legacy and would be disrespectful of what Elvis left behind in his life.”
