That or they decided the gravy train was worth ignoring the indiscretions. We've had politicians and spouses in that category recently, as well.
As excited I was about the Baz Luhrmann movie, I cannot say I have the same good vibe about the upcoming Elvis and Priscilla movie. In her book, which I have not read in a very long time, I seem to remember Priscilla always putting herself in the best possible light. Although I don't know enough information about Priscilla's challenging the validity of the new amendment that got her removed as Trustee of the estate and EPE, along with another fiduciary in 2016, it is my belief that this whole case will not go well for Priscilla, and ultimately, it could damage her credibility badly in the Elvis fandom world. From what I can gather, Lisa is not challenging the actual inheritance to Riley Keough and the Twins yet, but Priscilla has petitioned the court to challenge the validity of Lisa Marie's signature on the later Amendment, saying things like it could be fraudulent and that they misspelled Priscilla's name and did not give any notice to her. This seems like a lust for power and even worse, possibly a raw money grab to continue to draw a big salary from EPE. Without getting too far into the weeds on the technical side, I can tell you what I feel about it. I currently run a trust that runs into the tens of millions. Several trustee changes occurred before my Aunt's death and even one after her death. The notice to Priscilla is likely rather perfunctory and cursory, but I don't think that will matter to the deciding judge. I don't know the probate codes of Tennessee, but this was a revocable trust, which gives a lot of leeway by the Trustor (in this case, Lisa Marie Presley, to change things pretty dramatically, which Lisa Marie apparently did in 2016. That is a good thing for the Presley grandchildren, because it was not done as a death confession type last will change. Probate judges hate last minute will or additions. This amendment took place well before Lisa Marie's very sad and unexpected death. In fact, the amendment change apparently occurred in 2016, almost seven years before she died. Unless eldest daughter Riley Kough has some very concerning issues in her background that we all have not heard about, Any judge would be extremely reluctant to remove Riley as Trustee in my onion. Riley is over 30 years old, has been in a stable marriage for several years by all accounts and she just became an award winning director for her special movie that was shown at Cannes this past summer, And why would a judge put an ex-wife of the original trust grantor, Elvis himself, over a direct decedent of Elvis and Lisa Marie herself ? I don't believe there is any way that a good and sound thinking Tennessee judge is going to put Priscilla Presley back in charge of EPE and Gracland now. I think the judge has only one or two options to go with and neither one is choosing Priscilla over Riley Keough. The twins will likely be about to have their own lawyer represent their interests theough their now father, who is still around. I believe the judge will ultimately chose to back up the trust amendment from 2016, which placed Riley and her now deceased brother in charge as co-trustees. If things got very dicey and Pricilla's legal team resorts to plain character assassination on Riley than the judge could get very angry at Priscilla and her legal team. I saw this clumsy tactic tried against my first wife after her great grandfathers death, and he was a great man that helped raise her. We saw very distant relatives come out of nowhere and some of those unscrupulous relatives went into court with signed declarations against my wife and I. We chose to respond with our own positive declarations from some very substantial people in the community, whose declarations said what great and generous people my wife and I were. And even more importantly they said what great parents we were to our precious thee daughters. Now my very favorite part was when the judge, while siting right at his huge bench the bench, informed the court he had read all of the affidavits. He took the big stack of declarations by the vengeful family members and tossed the whole stack to the far side of his giant table and said loudly enough for everyone in the court to hear, "These declarations are simply character assassinations on this people and they don't help me at all." He then asked the original attorney that her parents trusted to explain what was really going on here. Their goal was to change the trust, which had given everything to my wife as she was basically the only one who ever came around and offered support. We took them to medical appointment, eye doctors and cooked for them regularly. The judge took about five more minutes and fired the previous trustee and placed my wife back in charge as the original trust document had said it should be.
That was very interesting. It's crazy how people just show up after the fact. You clearly know more about this stuff than me. I'm hoping Priscilla's isn't just feeling jilted and still wants more money, but actually wishes to help ensure that she has a say in future ongoings with Riley to help protect the estate long term. If they don't have a close relationship I doubt Priscilla would be asked for advice. To my knowledge Priscilla is worth 50 million on her own, and at her age with no surviving children, it seems she wouldn't be doing this for personal additional wealth, but possibly to look out for all of her grandchildren and the Elvis estate as a whole. For Lisa in 2016, who was 48 at the time, to remove her mom, who was 70/71, makes you wonder if Lisa really thought she'd die before her early 70 something mother. For the document to not be delivered to Priscilla when the amendment was made, which is supposedly required by the trust, and for it to have not been notorized, does IMO, give Priscilla some legitimacy here, regardless of her intentions. Feel free to correct me
I’ve not been fan of Priscilla (for those of you divorced, imagine an ex-spouse of yours still having an hand in controlling your estate nearly 50 years later) and her challenging her own granddaughter on this really takes the cake.
Priscilla has another child - Navarone Garibaldi, her son with longtime boyfriend Marco Garibaldi. Navarone is 35 years old. I don't know if that factors into her thoughts about Elvis' estate or not, since he's not Elvis' child.
If it was somehow possible for a music biopic to be made without kowtowing to an icon or surviving members, I think the best film on this subject would be Badfinger. Brutal, sad, messy and meaningful. Otherwise, we will never get a biopic that represents more reality over what the musicians want their legacy to look like. That Runaways movie is a perfect example, it would have been the perfect opportunity to show how throwing a bunch of teen girls into the rock scene isn't female empowerment, but a study in the misogyny and depravity of the rock industry. At least the doc Edgeplay got released around the same time.
There are several things about this claim by Pricilla's legal team that makes this story suspicious to me. If she was replaced as trustee in 2016, you would think that it might have leaked somehow to her, but maybe not. It just seems incredibly presumptuous to assume that she was going to be the trustee of her ex husbands estate once Lisa Marie or her grandkids reached some level of maturity. Lisa Marie is 77 years old, and it was only a matter of time before someone else was going to have to take her place. The key thing for Riley to do is to get the very best estate lawyer in Tennessee to be her legal advisor. I have a fantastic lawyer at one of the biggest law firms in San Diego. I am ultimately in charge of all decisions, but when a legal issues arise of any kind, I get him on the phone right away. He also has a great deal of common sense and does not try to create problems for the trust I run. He has enough big clients, including a billion dollar estate that he is working on now. We have worked together on this multimillion dollar trust for over 12 years. She needs a lawyer that could handle a contentious legal fight over the estate in the future. We don't really know where Priscilla is ultimately going with this, but to me it really stinks, and I say this as someone who has given her some credit where credit is due, but I also never thought she and Elvis were a great match personality wise.
My daughter and I were making this exact same point that you do in your post above. I cannot believe that Priscilla has the temerity to engage is this fight against her own granddaughters. It is really leaving a very bad taste in all of our mouths.
A lot of speculation on Priscilla's motives when the circumstances of the challenge are not known. Tabloids are not to be trusted, at all. We should not assume ill intent and malice within the family. For all we know this move is in the best interests of all involved. From a selfishly Elvis Presley fan point of view though, I'd say better the devil you know at this time. Those of us who've had the opportunity to visit Graceland have Priscilla to thank for that. Lisa's children are unknown quantities and much is at stake.
TMZ's sources for this and many other celebrity stories have proven surprisingly accurate over many years. They often have family sources they use directly for their information. I have not seen a single person within either Presley faction contend the information that TMZ has revealed to the public so far. Priscilla Presley will be tuning 78 years old this May, so sooner or later a replacement trustee will be needed, who better than an actual descendant of Elvis and Lisa Marie to take over this awesome responsibility. I personally believe that granddaughter Riley Keough, and eventually the twins when the reach a proper age of maturity, would make an amazing and worthwhile choice for the further best interests of Elvis's fandom and for the Presley family itself, which is far more important in my mind.
Forgive me if I come off as sounding silly here, I'm just a layman who's speculating so again feel free to correct me. I read somewhere that she could be concerned about Michael Lockwood. Not sure how that would be since Riley is the beneficiary. I also read the amendment exists only as a PDF copy, and the questionable signature claiming to be Lisa's is on a blank page devoid of language pertaining to the amendment. It's also interesting that the amendment is from 2016, the same year of Lisa filing for divorce and checking into rehab. Does that bring her emotional and mental status in to question? If so and even if she regretted amending the trust, she may have never told Priscilla about it because she assumed she would never die before Priscilla and it wouldn't matter.
Oh no worries my friend, we are all just speculating to some extent, but I try to keep my attention on what has been released in the news and what we know from the past. For pure argument's sake, let's pretend that the newer amendment is flawed so badly from a legal sense, that the judge nullifies it. The problem for Priscilla Presley is the trustee's job can be challenged in court anytime for a number of reasons. Lisa is not a direct benefactor on the trust as far as we know. She is getting paid on an hourly basis for serving as a trustee of Elvis's estate. If I am remembering correctly, Lisa could have taken over control of her father's estate at 25, but wisely kept her mother on as a trustee. I think that was a very good decision at the time. The problem is a lot of things have changed since then. With Lisa's death, the question is going to be who did she want to be in charge of her estate, which still controls at least 85% of Authenic Brands Group, which ultimately controls EPE. Lisa Marie owned all of Graceland and all of its assets and Elvis memorabilia outright. Again, Priscilla is not in Lisa's will as a direct benefactor and in fact she wasn't in Elvis trust as a direct benefactor. There is a big difference between a benefactor and a trustee. Can one be both within the same trust and will? Yes, I was originally a benefactor on my Aunt's trust, but I was also listed as the secondary trustee choice should the first trustee designate resign, become incapacitated or die. I got a phone call the day after Christmas 12 years ago from the current trustee of my Aunts trust, informing me he had incurable pancreatic cancer and he needed to resign ASAP, so he could take a last trip with his wife before his health went completely sideways. He informed me that I was the next replacement trustee listed and my backup, a senior brilliant lawyer was getting ready to retire and he would refuse the appointment. The trustee told me that if I refused to take the job, the whole thing would turn into a mess with a fight over control of my Aunt's estate. I was actually in a strong position because I had already negotiated out my full trust benefit with the trustee. Because my Aunt knew I was 50 years old at the time, well educated with common sense, she let me have my full trust benefit all at once. I told the trustee that I was now officially retired, but I would meet with the trust lawyers and our other benefactors and give them an answer in a few days. I took on the duty of trustee reluctantly, after advising one of the benefactors that I thought she should get an outside professional lawyer to take over. She told me I was the only one she wanted and she did not want to deal with a stranger over her interest in the trust. Sorry for the long story, but I do have a lot of experiences with trusts and even trust battles, fortunately not the one I am running now. Priscilla might win some early battles on this issue, but ultimately I believe she will lose the war. As @Shawn pointed out in his fine post, would anybody think it would be right for an ex-wife to be running your estate 50 years after your death. Even worse to me is the fact that Priscilla is surely going to lose in the public relations battle and ultimately lose a lot of the goodwill she had built up over many decades. I thought she handled EPE in a graceful and humble way, so I feel very badly for the entire family.
Her net worth is said to be 50 million. Not sure how much is real money but I'm sure she's far from bad off. If her motives are selfish do you think her actual cash is far less or that she's wanting to do more for her son?
I honestly don't think Priscilla is doing this just for the money, although who knows, maybe she lent some money to Lisa over the years and wants to get some of it back. That's okay, but there is another way to pursue that issue. I actually think it is more about pride and power. Priscilla thinks she kept this whole Elvis estate together all these years and she's thinking this younger whipper snapper has no idea how to do the job. Riley Keough is 31 years old and an accomplished actress as well as a burgeoning film director. I am also sure she will be wise enough to secure a great trust lawyer, if she hasn't already.
Joel Weinshanker on What Lisa Marie Presley Wanted for Graceland - People Magazine Elvis Enterprises' Joel Weinshanker on Lisa Marie Presley's Wishes for Graceland: It 'Was Always Riley' He then said that Lisa Marie, the only child of rock legend Elvis Presley, was "quite certain" and "very direct" about who she wanted to carry on the legacy. "We discussed this many many times [before] she passed, and that was always Riley and Ben," he said of her kids Riley Keough and Benjamin Keough, whom she shared with ex David Keough. "There was never a question in her mind that they would be the stewards, that they would look at it the exact same way that she did. And obviously when Ben passed, it really sat with Riley." He also insisted that though Riley has a career in acting and directing, she "always had an interest" and "knew that one day she would be in charge."
According to Calvin Newborn, Elvis was more than a pre success observer on Beale St or Club Handy Club Mitchell and Club Handy
I'm just flabbergasted by it all. I hope its not a media beat-up and there is a good reason for her actions, otherwise poor Riley. She doesn't need this right after the death of her beloved mother and with a small child to care for. My small knowledge of trusts is that you normally name your heirs to run it, not parents because they'll likely pre-decease you.
Didn't Baz say there was footage in the Graceland archives which showed the owner of Club Handy talking about Elvis being a regular? I recall that the scene was based on some sort of evidence.
Sorry for bombarding. Just saw this. Really nice video. Lisa Marie Presley Remembered by 'Elvis' Director Baz Luhrmann - Variety ...and a cool article about the movie by Irish film and TV critic Ciara Moloney: Elvis Like You’ve Never Seen Him Before ❧ Current Affairs
That is another great point that affected my Aunt's trust. She picked her CPA, who was almost as old as her, and he ended up dying a couple of years after she died. I think she did this on purpose, because he would fight off any family challenges or squabbles and get me and my cousin payed off by an independent minded trustee and then she knew I would take over to run the trust for the rest of its course. But you are so right, the rule of thumb is to always pick someone a bit younger than yourself to be your trustee or executor. It just makes no sense for Priscilla to be the trustee going forward, despite the fact that I think she did a pretty good job in the past running Graceland and advising and promoting EPE.
I am a bit dismayed by it all as well, especially because Priscilla has shown some pretty great public relations instincts over the years. The fact that Joel Weinshanker of EPE does this interview to support Riley Keough taking over, demonstrates a shot across the bow at Priscilla. They all know this is ultimately going to go in favor of Riley and eventually the rest of Lisa Marie's children. I think Priscilla is getting some terrible advice. I hope she can pivot away from this challenge as soon as possible, not only for Riley and the twins, but for her own psychological benefit. This is one of those cases where even if she wins in the short run, she will ultimately lose in the long run. The Lisa Marie Family may eventually forgive her, but I am not so sure the Elvis fandom will. Priscilla has had her share of distractors among the Elvis fandom for many years. And she has made such a great headway proving them wrong, but now this legal action against Riley Keough could ruin all the progress she has made over many years. I also am very leery of that upcoming movie based on the book she wrote. It could do great damage to all the good that has been done by the Baz Luhrmann movie to reinvigorate Elvis's image in the public's eyes. It would be so disappointing if she casts Elvis in a bad light with her as the victim of the whole relationship.
Has anyone seen the movie this past few days at the cinema? I went twice. That made 6 times for me total in the theatre
