Actress Riley Keough has agreed to pay her grandmother and former wife of Elvis Presley, Priscilla Presley, a lump-sum payment to resolve their ongoing dispute over control of the family trust.
According to court documents made public Tuesday, the payment amounts to $1 million.
Keough also agreed to pay up to $400,000 for Priscilla’s legal fees related to the petition she filed earlier this year, challenging the validity of a 2016 document that removed her from the Promenade Trust. With the settlement these payments fall under, Keough will become the sole trustee of the financial institution left behind by her mother Lisa Marie Presley, who died in January.
In addition, Keough agreed to keep Priscilla as a “special adviser” to the trust, for which she would be paid an undisclosed sum for 10 years or until her death, whichever came first.
“In settling the claims pending in Priscilla’s petition, the parties are saving significant legal fees by avoiding litigation, and they are likewise avoiding the spectacle of intra-family litigation that would have been inimical to Lisa’s wishes and not in the best interests of the family,” the filing said.
The terms of the settlement, which was first announced last month though not detailed, need to be approved by a judge in the Los Angeles Superior Court where they were filed. The paperwork stipulates that Keough would pay Presley after Presley resigns from the trust and after Keough receives the proceeds of her mother’s life-insurance policy.
The trust battle began after Lisa Marie’s memorial in January when Priscilla’s lawyers filed a petition in Los Angeles challenging the authenticity of a 2016 amendment to Lisa Marie’s living trust. The amendment had transferred control of Lisa Marie’s estate, including the Graceland mansion and a 15% stake in Elvis Presley Enterprises from Priscilla Presley and her former business partner Barry Seigel to her two children Riley and Benjamin Keough.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.
