TLDR: Priscilla Presley and Riley Keough went from not speaking to walking red carpets together after a bitter 2023 legal battle over Lisa Marie’s estate. Priscilla sued to regain control, Riley won and became sole trustee, but they settled with a $1 million payout to Priscilla. External threats from scammers and former business partners forced them to unite, and now they’re publicly affectionate and protective of each other.
When Lisa Marie Presley died suddenly in January 2023, her death didn’t just devastate her family. It triggered one of the ugliest celebrity estate battles in recent memory, pitting grandmother against granddaughter in a fight for control of Elvis’s legacy.
Priscilla Presley and Riley Keough went from a loving relationship to not speaking, with Priscilla filing a lawsuit just days after Lisa Marie’s funeral. The public narrative painted Priscilla as greedy and Riley as a grieving daughter being attacked by her own grandmother.
But less than two years later, they were walking red carpets together in matching designer outfits, publicly declaring their love for each other. Here’s how they went from a bitter legal war to best friends.
Priscilla Sued Riley Just Days After the Funeral
Lisa Marie died on January 12, 2023, after suffering cardiac arrest at her Calabasas home. She was 54 years old. Her public memorial service at Graceland was held on January 22, with thousands of fans paying their respects.
Four days later, on January 26, Priscilla dropped a legal bomb. She filed a petition in Los Angeles Superior Court challenging the validity of a 2016 amendment to Lisa Marie’s trust.
That 2016 amendment was huge. It removed Priscilla and business manager Barry Siegel as trustees and replaced them with Lisa Marie’s two oldest children, Riley and Benjamin.
After Benjamin died by suicide in 2020, Riley was left as the sole successor trustee.
Priscilla’s lawsuit claimed the document was sketchy. She said the trust rules required any amendment to be delivered to the current trustees during Lisa Marie’s lifetime, and she swore she never received it. She also said the signature looked off, her own name was misspelled, and the document lacked proper witnesses or a notary.
If Priscilla won, the 2016 amendment would be thrown out. The trust would revert to the 2010 version where Priscilla and Barry Siegel were in charge. Riley would be completely shut out of controlling her own mother’s estate.
Riley Was Devastated by the Timing
Riley later described this period as total chaos. In a September 2023 Vanity Fair interview, she said the “carpet had been ripped out” from under her while she was grieving the loss of her mom.
Sources close to the family said Riley was “deeply upset” by the lawsuit. The relationship between grandmother and granddaughter went ice cold. They stopped speaking entirely.
The optics were brutal for Priscilla. To the public, it looked like she was attacking her grieving granddaughter for money. Fans turned on her hard, calling it a shameless money grab.
But Priscilla’s camp saw it differently. From her perspective, she’d saved the Elvis estate from bankruptcy in the 1980s by opening Graceland to tourists. She’d spent decades building it into a profitable empire. The idea that she was being pushed out by a trust amendment she never even saw felt like a betrayal.
They Reached a Settlement in May 2023
The legal battle could have dragged on for years, burning through the estate’s money on attorney fees. By May 2023, both sides realized they needed to settle.
The final settlement, signed in November 2023, was essentially a buyout of Priscilla’s control in exchange for serious financial compensation.
Riley became the sole trustee of the Promenade Trust, giving her complete control over Graceland and the estate’s remaining 15% stake in Elvis Presley Enterprises. She also oversees the trusts for her younger half-sisters, the twins Harper and Finley.
In exchange, Priscilla got a package worth about $2.4 million total. She received $1 million in cash from Lisa Marie’s life insurance policy. Riley agreed to pay $400,000 to cover Priscilla’s legal fees from the court fight.
Priscilla was also named “Special Advisor” to the estate with a $100,000 per year salary for 10 years or until her death. It’s a ceremonial role with zero actual power, but it keeps her connected and provides steady income.
Two other big wins for Priscilla: she secured burial rights in the Meditation Garden at Graceland in the spot closest to Elvis, and her son Navarone Garibaldi (Lisa Marie’s half-brother) got a 1/9th stake in the trust as a beneficiary.
Riley Refused to Trash Her Grandmother
In September 2023, just after the settlement was finalized, Riley gave her first major interview about the whole mess to Vanity Fair.
What’s striking is how she refused to villainize Priscilla. She could have played the victim card hard and gotten tons of public sympathy. Instead, she took the high road.
“Things with Grandma will be happy,” Riley said. “She’s just been my grandma.”
She described the legal battle not as a personal attack, but as a necessary process to get “clarity” on the massive business side of the family. She acknowledged that running an estate worth hundreds of millions is complicated, and sometimes you need courts and lawyers to sort things out.
This interview marked the beginning of the public thaw between them. Riley was signaling she didn’t want a permanent rift with her grandmother.
The Emmy Awards Red Carpet Reunion
By January 2024, exactly one year after Lisa Marie’s death, the reconciliation was complete. Riley and Priscilla walked the Emmy Awards red carpet together, both dressed in coordinated Chanel outfits.
This wasn’t an accident. It was a carefully orchestrated public relations move to show the world they were united again.
Priscilla spoke emotionally to reporters about Riley, calling her “talented” and saying, “We love each other, we care for each other.” Her voice reportedly cracked with emotion when talking about her granddaughter.
Riley was equally warm, smiling and staying close to Priscilla throughout the event. The message was clear: the war was over, and they’d chosen family over money and control.
External Threats Forced Them to Unite
What really cemented their bond was facing common enemies together.
In May 2024, Riley had to defend Graceland from a foreclosure scam. A company called Naussany Investments claimed Lisa Marie had used the mansion as collateral for a $3.8 million loan. They scheduled an auction to sell Elvis’s home.
Riley immediately sued and proved the documents were complete forgeries. The scammer, Lisa Jeanine Findley, was arrested and sent to prison. Riley’s quick action saved Graceland and proved she was a capable guardian of the family legacy.
Then came an even bigger threat to Priscilla personally. Her former business partners, Brigitte Kruse and Kevin Fialko, sued her for $50 million in 2024 and 2025, claiming she’d cut them out of their share of the settlement money.
Priscilla countersued, accusing them of financial elder abuse. But the worst part was their allegations about Lisa Marie’s death. They claimed Priscilla “prematurely pulled the plug” on life support to regain control of the trust before Riley could intervene.
The accusation was so offensive and hurtful that Riley and Priscilla immediately issued a joint statement in September 2025. They condemned the lawsuit as “deeply hurtful” and affirmed they were “united in love and respect.”
Nothing brings a family together like fighting off people trying to destroy them from the outside.
Where They Stand Now
As of 2025, Priscilla and Riley have a relationship that looks genuinely warm. They attend events together, speak affectionately about each other in interviews, and present a united front when defending the Presley legacy.
Riley runs the estate with Priscilla’s blessing. Priscilla collects her advisor salary and has the peace of mind knowing she’ll be buried next to Elvis when the time comes.
The settlement basically gave each of them what they needed. Riley needed control to protect her mother’s legacy and her siblings’ inheritances. Priscilla needed financial security and to maintain her connection to Elvis’s legacy.
What started as one of the ugliest celebrity estate battles in recent memory turned into a story about two women who chose love and family over pride and money. They went through hell together in 2023, but they came out the other side stronger and closer than before.
Sometimes it takes a crisis to show you who really matters. For Priscilla and Riley, losing Lisa Marie and then almost losing each other in a legal war made them realize what’s actually important.
And that’s a lesson worth more than any estate, no matter how many millions it’s worth.
