I’m not a big celebrity watcher, but this is one of the many celebrity stories that can help the rest of us learn what not to do in our own lives.
Lisa Marie Presley, the only child of Elvis Presley, died unexpectedly on January 12, 2023 at the age of 54. She left behind 3 children, Riley Keough, age 33 and twin daughters, Harper and Finley Lockwood, age 14. Her son Benjamin Keough committed suicide in July 2020.
Three days after Lisa Marie’s funeral, her mother, Priscilla Presely, filed a Petition in the Probate Court claiming that part of Lisa Marie’s estate plan was invalid. Here’s what we know so far based on court filings:
Lisa Marie’s Estate Plan
Lisa Marie’s estate plan included a Revocable Living Trust, which held her own assets as well as her father’s famous Graceland property and 15% of Elvis’ estate. The original trust was created in 1993 about a week before Lisa Marie’s 25th birthday. Presumably, she created the trust because according to Elvis’s Trust, Lisa Marie was going to inherit Graceland and 15% of his estate on her 25th birthday. As far as celebrity estate planning goes, this was a smart move on both Elvis and Lisa Marie’s part.
Lisa Marie’s 1993 Trust named her mother, Priscilla Presley and her former business manager, Barry Siegel as co-Trustees. This would make sense, as Priscilla had been managing Lisa Marie’s portion of Elvis’ trust since his death when Lisa Marie was only 9 years old.
In 2010, Lisa Marie amended and restated her trust, which means she changed the terms of the trust, while leaving the trust intact. She named her children as the beneficiaries of her estate, and left her mother and business manager as the co-Trustees. None of these facts are in dispute.
The Court Filing
Apparently, after Lisa Marie’s death, Priscilla was informed of an amendment to the trust that was dated March 11, 2016. The amendment removed Priscilla and Barry as co-Trustees and named Lisa Marie as the current Trustee. It then named Lisa Marie’s children, Riley and Benjamin Keough as successor trustees. Benjamin died in 2020, leaving Riley as the sole successor trustee.
Priscilla believes that this amendment is invalid for several reasons and wants the Court to revert to the 2010 version of the trust. First, she claims that her name is spelled wrong. This may not be that big of a deal, as typographical errors will generally not deem a legal document invalid.
More importantly, she claims that the date of the Amendment was added via .pdf and that Lisa Marie’s signature does not match her usual signature. It was also not witnessed or notarized, nor was it delivered to the current Trustees (Priscilla and Barry) as required by the terms of the Trust when a Trustee is removed and a new one is appointed. Finally, the original Amendment has not been located.
The Probate Process is slow, so we won’t know how this will play out for several months or even years. A hearing has been scheduled for April 13, 2023.
What We Can Learn From This
1. Work with an experienced estate planning attorney
Many estate planning attorneys help their clients create a plan that will avoid a mess for the family to deal with, as well as minimize conflict among family members after you pass. By creating a Revocable Living Trust, it would seem that Lisa Marie was trying to do just that. Assets held by a Trust are outside the scope of the Probate Court, and because of that, the parties – Trustees and Beneficiaries – are able to distribute assets in the privacy of an attorney’s office rather than in a public court proceeding such as Probate.
Trusts are generally considered to be more difficult to contest than a will because Trusts are normally prepared by an attorney, which adds a layer of credibility to both the terms of the document, as well as the technical requirements for execution. An experienced estate planning attorney will ensure that the document itself is valid under state law, and also that all legal requirements are met when it is signed. Similarly, an attorney will make sure that if a Trust is amended, restated or revoked, all requirements are met with regard to notifying the proper parties. But as we see here, Trusts can be challenged and it is up to the Court to decide whether the challenger has a case or not.
It seems that Priscilla is arguing that the 2016 Amendment didn’t satisfy all legal requirements because it wasn’t witnessed or notarized. Some states do not require that a Trust be witnessed or notarized, so whether the Amendment falls flat in that regard will be determined by California law. She also claims that the Trust required a copy of the Amendment to be delivered to her and Barry to be valid. Again, this will be determined by California law. But, if the document is found to be valid, this technical oversight may not be sufficient to deem the entire Amendment invalid. I do find it a bit strange that Lisa Marie would work with experienced attorneys for her original Trust and the restatement, but not an amendment.
2. Keep Your Plan Updated
Lisa Marie took steps to keep her plan updated over the years, and kudos to her for doing that. So many people create a will or trust and never update it. In many cases, this leads to your plan not working the way you intended it to. For example, Heath Ledger created a will leaving his entire estate to his parents. He never updated it after his daughter was born, so his estate passed to his parents instead of his daughter when he died at the age of 28.
This was not the case with Lisa Marie. She created her estate plan in 1993, and then made significant changes to it not too long after the birth of her twins. If the Amendment is found to be valid, it would suggest that she was updating it again to keep it current with her wishes. It is curious that she did not update it again after her son passed away in 2020. There are many reasons she may not have done so, and the timeline suggests that she didn’t rush to make changes to her estate plan as soon as a life event occurred (i.e. after her first two children were born). But, in any case, keeping your plan current is one way to prevent or minimize conflict after you’re gone.
3. Talk to Your Family About Your Estate Plan
At Willow Legal Group, we are big fans of communication. We always talk to our clients about informing the people they name in their estate planning documents about their wishes regarding healthcare, how they would want minor children to be raised, and why they made some of the choices they made in their plan. This prevents your loved ones from having to guess what your intent was, and allows them to ask questions. Open communication can ultimately lead to less resentment and conflict after you’re gone.
It’s hard to say who will “win” this court case, but if Lisa Marie had discussed her decision to remove Priscilla and Barry as Trustees with her mother prior to doing it, perhaps this entire matter could have been avoided. Instead of becoming a headline, the family could have taken the time they needed to grieve the loss of a mother, daughter and friend.
If your estate plan needs an update, schedule a free 15 minute consultation to learn about our estate plan review process.