TLDR: Riley Keough now controls Elvis Presley’s estate after her mother Lisa Marie died in 2023. Priscilla Presley saved the estate from bankruptcy in the 1980s and managed it until Lisa Marie inherited at age 25. After Lisa Marie’s death, Priscilla sued to regain control, but Riley won and became sole trustee through a settlement that paid Priscilla $1 million plus an advisory role.
When Elvis Presley died in 1977, he left behind more than just his music. He left Graceland, an empire of intellectual property, and a fortune that would eventually be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
But who actually owns all of that now? The answer involves three generations of Presley women, a major legal battle in 2023, and a dramatic reconciliation that played out on red carpets and in courtrooms.
Here’s the complete story of who inherited Elvis’s estate and how it went from near-bankruptcy to a family empire.
Priscilla Presley Saved the Estate From Going Broke
Elvis’s will left everything to his daughter Lisa Marie Presley, who was only nine years old when he died on August 16, 1977. Until she turned 25, the estate would be managed by executors, including her mother Priscilla.
Here’s the problem: Elvis’s estate was asset-rich but cash-poor. They had Graceland and all his intellectual property, but the taxes and maintenance costs were bleeding the estate dry. By the early 1980s, they were facing insolvency.
Priscilla Presley made a game-changing decision in 1982. She opened Graceland to the public as a tourist attraction.
It worked. The mansion became one of the most visited homes in America, second only to the White House. The revenue from tickets, merchandise, and licensing deals transformed the estate from a financial burden into a money-making machine.
By the time Lisa Marie turned 25 in 1993, the estate was worth an estimated $100 million. Priscilla had literally saved her daughter’s inheritance.
Lisa Marie Inherited in 1993 But Set Up a Trust
On her 25th birthday in 1993, Lisa Marie officially inherited the estate. But recognizing she didn’t have the financial expertise to manage it herself, she set up something called the “Promenade Trust” to handle everything.
The original trustees were Priscilla Presley and a business manager named Barry Siegel. Basically, the same team that had been running things kept running things.
This arrangement worked fine for a while. Then it spectacularly fell apart.
The Trust Lost Almost Everything
In 2005, Barry Siegel made a massive decision. He sold 85% of the trust’s stake in Elvis Presley Enterprises (the company that manages Elvis’s brand and Graceland) for $100 million.
Sounds great, right? Except by 2015, the trust was down to just $14,000 in cash and buried in debt.
Where did $100 million go? Lisa Marie blamed Siegel’s mismanagement. In 2018, she sued him, claiming he paid himself huge fees and gave Priscilla an annual salary of $900,000 even though Priscilla didn’t technically own any stake in EPE at that point.
This financial disaster shattered Lisa Marie’s trust in the management team her mother had helped put in place. It set the stage for everything that happened next.
Lisa Marie Removed Priscilla From the Trust in 2016
In March 2016, Lisa Marie reportedly made a huge change to her trust. She removed both Priscilla and Barry Siegel as trustees and replaced them with her two oldest children, Riley Keough and Benjamin Keough.
This was a radical move. Lisa Marie was basically saying “I don’t trust the old guard anymore. I’m handing control to my kids.”
The relationship between Lisa Marie and Priscilla was already strained. They were barely speaking in the final years, partly because Lisa Marie felt Priscilla sided with her ex-husband Michael Lockwood during a nasty custody battle over the twins.
Then in 2020, tragedy struck. Benjamin Keough died by suicide at age 27. That left Riley as the sole designated successor trustee.
Lisa Marie Died Suddenly in January 2023
On January 12, 2023, Lisa Marie suffered cardiac arrest at her home in Calabasas. Her housekeeper found her, and paramedics were able to get her pulse back before rushing her to West Hills Hospital.
But she was declared brain dead on arrival. The family, including Priscilla, signed a Do Not Resuscitate order. Lisa Marie suffered a second cardiac arrest in the hospital and died at age 54.
Her death was sudden and shocking. Two days earlier, she’d been at the Golden Globes supporting Austin Butler for his performance as her father in Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis.”
The sudden death created an immediate power vacuum over who would control the massive estate.
Priscilla Challenged the 2016 Trust Amendment
Four days after Lisa Marie’s public memorial service at Graceland, Priscilla filed a petition in Los Angeles Superior Court. She was challenging the validity of that 2016 amendment that removed her as trustee.
Priscilla’s legal argument was surgical. She claimed the 2016 document had several problems. First, the trust rules required any amendment to be delivered to the current trustees during Lisa Marie’s lifetime, and Priscilla said she never received it.
She also alleged the signature looked off, that her own name was misspelled in the document, and that it lacked proper witness signatures or notarization.
If Priscilla had won, the trust would have reverted back to the 2010 version where she and Barry Siegel (or his replacement) were in charge. Riley would have been completely cut out of control.
Riley later described this period as total “chaos” where the “carpet had been ripped out” from under her while she was grieving her mother.
They Reached a Settlement in May 2023
The legal battle threatened to drain the estate’s money through endless litigation. By May 2023, Riley and Priscilla reached a settlement. The final terms were signed in November 2023.
Here’s what the settlement gave each side:
Riley became the sole trustee of the Promenade Trust. She now controls Graceland and the remaining 15% stake in Elvis Presley Enterprises. She also oversees the sub-trusts set up for her younger half-sisters, the twins Harper and Finley.
In exchange, Priscilla got a serious payout. She received $1 million in cash, funded by Lisa Marie’s $25 million life insurance policy. Riley also agreed to pay $400,000 to cover Priscilla’s legal fees from the court battle.
Priscilla was named a “Special Advisor” to the estate with a $100,000 per year stipend for 10 years (or until her death). This is basically a ceremonial role with no actual power, but it gives her income and keeps her officially connected to the estate.
The settlement also guaranteed Priscilla would be buried in the Meditation Garden at Graceland, in the spot closest to Elvis without moving any existing graves. That was apparently a huge emotional issue for her.
Finally, Priscilla’s son Navarone Garibaldi (Lisa Marie’s half-brother) was granted a 1/9th beneficiary stake in the trust, ensuring he’d be taken care of financially.
Riley Successfully Defended Graceland From Fraudsters
Just when things settled down internally, Riley faced an external threat in May 2024.
A company called Naussany Investments claimed Lisa Marie had used Graceland as collateral for a $3.8 million loan that was never repaid. They scheduled a foreclosure auction to sell the mansion.
Riley immediately filed a lawsuit proving the documents were complete forgeries. The notary stamp belonged to a woman who denied ever notarizing any deed. The auction was stopped, and the perpetrator, Lisa Jeanine Findley, was arrested and sent to prison in 2025.
Riley’s quick and effective response proved she was a capable guardian of the estate. She protected the family’s most valuable asset from a sophisticated fraud scheme.
Priscilla and Riley Are Close Again
During the 2023 lawsuit, the relationship between grandmother and granddaughter was ice cold. They weren’t speaking, and the public narrative was that Priscilla was greedily attacking her own granddaughter for money.
But by late 2023, things had shifted. In a September Vanity Fair interview, Riley refused to trash her grandmother. She described the legal battle not as a war, but as a necessary process to get “clarity” on the business side of things. She said, “Things with Grandma will be happy. She’s just been my grandma.”
By 2024, they’d fully reconciled. They walked the red carpet together at the Emmy Awards, both wearing coordinated Chanel outfits. It was a deliberate public move to show they were united.
Priscilla spoke emotionally about Riley at the event, calling her “talented” and saying, “We love each other, we care for each other.”
What forced them together? External threats. Priscilla’s former business partners sued her for $50 million, making wild allegations including that Priscilla “prematurely pulled the plug” on Lisa Marie to regain control of the trust. The claims were so offensive that Riley and Priscilla issued a joint statement in September 2025 condemning the lawsuit as “deeply hurtful” and affirming they’re “united in love and respect.”
Who Controls the Estate Today
As of 2025, Riley Keough is the sole trustee and controls the Elvis Presley estate. That means she makes all decisions about Graceland, the remaining stake in Elvis Presley Enterprises, and how the intellectual property is used.
The beneficiaries of the trust are Riley herself, her half-sisters Harper and Finley (the twins), and Navarone Garibaldi, who gets a 1/9th share.
Priscilla maintains her ceremonial role as Special Advisor and collects her $100,000 annual stipend, but she has zero voting power or control over business decisions. She’s been transitioned from an executive to an honored elder.
The estate that Priscilla saved from bankruptcy in the 1980s, that Lisa Marie inherited and nearly lost, is now in the hands of the third generation. And despite the ugly legal battle of 2023, the family appears to have found peace.
Riley proved herself by beating back the foreclosure scammers and stabilizing the estate’s governance. Priscilla got financial security and the promise that she’ll be buried next to Elvis.
And the legacy of the King lives on, managed by his granddaughter who seems determined to protect it for generations to come.
