Riley Keough to Pay $1 Million to Priscilla Presley and $400K in Legal Fees to Settle Family Trust Suit
The actress from ‘Daisy Jones & the Six’ is the sole executor of her late mother Lisa Marie Presley’s estate.
According to court records, Riley Keough will give her grandmother Priscilla Presley a $1 million lump-sum payment as part of a previous settlement agreed between the couple when she becomes the sole trustee of her late mother Lisa Marie Presley’s estate.
Riley, 34, and Priscilla, 78, struck an agreement in May, with lawyers stating that the contents of the settlement will be kept confidential at the time. While nearly all references to the payment are redacted in court filings filed in Los Angeles on Monday, one sentence deep within the 95-page case shows the exorbitant price tag.
According to the agreements, Riley will pay Priscilla $400,000 for legal expenses and costs “at the same time as the one million payment stated in Paragraph 6 of this Agreement.”
Riley’s payment to Priscilla is stated in Paragraph 6, but the amount — which “shall be made within 10 days after Riley’s receipt of the life insurance proceeds” — is censored. The New York Times was the first to report the $1 million figure.
Riley is to make the money “after receiving the proceeds of her mother’s life-insurance policy,” according to the documents, in exchange for Priscilla resigning.
Riley petitioned the court on Monday to approve the May settlement agreement, with her attorney Justin Gold noting that if it is approved, Riley will not charge for her services as a trustee, which Priscilla would have done.
Despite this, the paperwork shows that Priscilla was legally removed as Trustee of her late daughter’s estate on May 11 and that the change will be permanent regardless of whether Riley’s petition is allowed or not, as Priscilla signed a settlement agreement.
Priscilla and Riley’s representatives declined to comment.
“By settling the claims pending in Priscilla’s Petition, the parties are saving significant legal fees by avoiding litigation, and they are also avoiding the spectacle of intra-family litigation, which would have been inimical to Lisa’s wishes and not in the best interests of the family,” Gold writes in the documents.
Riley will be the sole trustee of her mother’s estate as well as the sub-trusts for her 14-year-old twin sisters, Harper and Finley Lockwood, and she will also protect and invest the money “in a manner consistent with the needs of the beneficiaries, and not influenced by the desire of a Trustee,” according to the petition.
Meanwhile, Priscilla will be the Trustee of her son (and Lisa Marie’s half-brother) Navarone Garibaldi’s sub-trust, which will be allocated 1/9 of the Trust, according to the paperwork. Riley, Finley, and Harper will share the remaining funds.
Lisa Marie passed away in January at the age of 54.
According to the Times, the Elvis brand continues to produce more than $100 million every year, with the Presley family’s part “funneled” to Promenade Trust.
