Who should get control of Graceland - Priscilla or Lisa Marie's Daughter Riley?

[1980stvfan]

It really sucks 2 months after Lisa's death Priscilla wants to challenge Lisa's signature from a document from 2016 and trying to get Graceland when Lisa always wanted her kids to have it.

[icecream]

Graceland exists because of Elvis, not Lisa Marie. Priscilla was Elvis' wife, Priscilla deserves to have his estate.

[Yong Fang]

Sort of hard to say. Who was the owner of Graceland, Lisa Marie or Priscilla? I will say that Priscilla was the driving force after Elvis’ death to make Graceland a tourist attraction and make all the money. Elvis before his death, while not broke was in middling financial straights.

But Priscilla is the EX-wife, and was when Elvis died, and Elvis did say in his will that his estate goes to his daughter and his daughter only. She was only 9 when Elvis died and so Priscilla did what she did to make the estate viable for herself and her daughter’s financial interests.

How old is Riley? Is she a legal adult? I probably would let Priscilla be the “front man” and run the show with Riley in the background learning the business until Priscilla dies. I don’t know Riley but Lisa Marie was a drunken drugged up mess who was basically broke with three ex husbands living off of Graceland revenue, so if her daughter is like her mother, she might not be the best one to run it.

If I were them, I might look into selling the property. Elvis fans are dying off, within twenty years there will be almost no fans left. Problem is (from Memphis) is that the property is in a crappy part of town. If Elvis never existed and history stayed the same, that property itself would be worth little. But maybe I don’t know what I am talking about. Wouldn’t be the first time.

[1980stvfan]

Originally Posted by Yong Fang

Sort of hard to say. Who was the owner of Graceland, Lisa Marie or Priscilla? I will say that Priscilla was the driving force after Elvis’ death to make Graceland a tourist attraction and make all the money. Elvis before his death, while not broke was in middling financial straights.

But Priscilla is the EX-wife, and was when Elvis died, and Elvis did say in his will that his estate goes to his daughter and his daughter only. She was only 9 when Elvis died and so Priscilla did what she did to make the estate viable for herself and her daughter’s financial interests.

How old is Riley? Is she a legal adult? I probably would let Priscilla be the “front man” and run the show with Riley in the background learning the business until Priscilla dies. I don’t know Riley but Lisa Marie was a drunken drugged up mess who was basically broke with three ex husbands living off of Graceland revenue, so if her daughter is like her mother, she might not be the best one to run it.

If I were them, I might look into selling the property. Elvis fans are dying off, within twenty years there will be almost no fans left. Problem is (from Memphis) is that the property is in a crappy part of town. If Elvis never existed and history stayed the same, that property itself would be worth little. But maybe I don’t know what I am talking about. Wouldn’t be the first time.

I read Lisa owned the property itself but let a company run the day to day stuff like the tours they do. Riley is actually 33 lol.

[Janice Johnson]

Originally Posted by Yong Fang

Sort of hard to say. Who was the owner of Graceland, Lisa Marie or Priscilla? I will say that Priscilla was the driving force after Elvis’ death to make Graceland a tourist attraction and make all the money. Elvis before his death, while not broke was in middling financial straights.

But Priscilla is the EX-wife, and was when Elvis died, and Elvis did say in his will that his estate goes to his daughter and his daughter only. She was only 9 when Elvis died and so Priscilla did what she did to make the estate viable for herself and her daughter’s financial interests.

How old is Riley? Is she a legal adult? I probably would let Priscilla be the “front man” and run the show with Riley in the background learning the business until Priscilla dies. I don’t know Riley but Lisa Marie was a drunken drugged up mess who was basically broke with three ex husbands living off of Graceland revenue, so if her daughter is like her mother, she might not be the best one to run it.

If I were them, I might look into selling the property. Elvis fans are dying off, within twenty years there will be almost no fans left. Problem is (from Memphis) is that the property is in a crappy part of town. If Elvis never existed and history stayed the same, that property itself would be worth little. But maybe I don’t know what I am talking about. Wouldn’t be the first time.

Poor Elvis had no idea Priscilla would OUTLIVE Lisa, their then 9 year old Daughter when he said Lisa would get the Estate. I personally also would have expected my Spouse to die before my Child, not the other way around. Technically, RILEY should get the Estate since she's Lisa's Adult Daughter. The oldest child of the person who was supposed to get an Estate is supposed to be the one getting it. If Riley has a child of her own(Likely as she's already 33) and Riley dies before Child, that Child is supposed to get the Estate.

[TSMIV]

Doesn't matter. Riley and her two younger half sisters will inherit it anyway. There is no one else from the Presley family left. I can't believe Priscilla is dumb enough to fight with her granddaughter over it.

[Yong Fang]

Lisa Marie, not Priscilla owned Graceland, per the will of Elvis. So if Lisa Marie herself had a will, Graceland goes to that person. Not that hard. Priscilla doesn’t really have any legal basis to contest this if there is a viable will. Not to mention Priscilla is the EX-wife of Elvis. From what I have read lately (which might be b.s.) was that Elvis liked young teenage girls and basically had affairs and whatever and he was the negative person in the relationship.

Priscilla is 75 years old (Elvis would be 88 now), and it’s not like if she lost control of Graceland that she would end up destitute and homeless. Another thing to consider if that she is a member of Scientology, a cult group that basically takes a lion share of money away from members, and Priscilla has been involved in that nonsense for nearly 50 years or more, from the time Elvis was alive (Elvis went to a Scientology session once and wisely and angrily derided it. Scientology might have been a point of contention in the relationship (although it was more of Elvis liking young girls). So Priscilla may need the money to feed the cult beast, and it is good to know that any money spent at Graceland goes to Scientology which is arguably evil. Unfortunately Lisa Marie was also in the cult, and so maybe is her daughter now. Hopefully not. Scientology is so ridiculous it isn’t judgmental to consider the people in it fools. Like I mentioned above, Elvis saw through it and wanted nothing to do with it.

[biffbronson]

Elvis certainly gave in to temptation many times, for example it's been well-documented that he was seeing other women while in his relationship with Linda Thompson. That's a big reason they broke up. Not really "young girls" though, all of his serious girlfriends were of age. I do think that's correct about Scientology though, Elvis studied all religions and was very spiritual, so obviously he would take a stand.

I think the granddaughter will prevail in this case. I have nothing against Priscilla, but she has been less-than-truthful in the past. For example, after Elvis' death she had the wild colors and things within Graceland redone, then was telling people "everything" was just as Elvis had it -- not true.

Finally I must mention that Elvis fandom continues to be extremely strong worldwide. It's not like he was Vic Damone or Vaughn Monroe, names that are slipping from public consciousness. Elvis was one of the all-time superstars among superstars. His fandom is rock solid.

[Yong Fang]

Just debating, but is Elvis really that popular anymore? My generation were the children of the original teenage fans of the 1950’s and even as teenagers in the 1980’s Elvis was old fashioned and out of style. Elvis fans are quickly dying off, a teenage fan of his in 1956 is now in their 80’s. Many famous people fade from memory decades after death. Ask someone under 30, hell, even under 40, people who listen to music to name three Elvis songs. Not just Elvis but ask someone under 30 to name three Beatles songs.

I am from Memphis and grew up in the shadow of Elvis and the guy is still an industry in the city, but I still say it’s a dwindling enterprise. I have asked this before and would be fascinated of the numbers of people who have been there per year and has that number been steady, or falling.

[icecream]

There was a popular movie about Elvis that came out just last year.

[HuntingtonM15]

Originally Posted by icecream

Graceland exists because of Elvis, not Lisa Marie. Priscilla was Elvis' wife, Priscilla deserves to have his estate.

And they were divorced at the time of his death so that's completely irrelevant. Lisa Marie wanted her kids to have it so that's who it should go to. Riley is an almost 34-year old woman. She's more than capable.

[Janice Johnson]

Originally Posted by HuntingtonM15

And they were divorced at the time of his death so that's completely irrelevant. Lisa Marie wanted her kids to have it so that's who it should go to. Riley is an almost 34-year old woman. She's more than capable.

It would be a different story if Riley were like 13 instead of 33. Riley's an ADULT, so Graceland should go to Riley. Lisa Marie most likely put Riley in charge of Graceland in the will, NOT Priscilla. Lisa was most likely expecting to outlive Priscilla, but not Riley, so Riley's most likely in Lisa's will for Graceland.

[James28]

Originally Posted by icecream

Graceland exists because of Elvis, not Lisa Marie. Priscilla was Elvis' wife, Priscilla deserves to have his estate.

So this is saying the Elvis estate should go to NO ONE after Priscilla dies despite Lisa Marie having already died last January. I agree that it has to be Riley who gets the estate. What's the point in Priscilla getting the estate?

[Caroline13]

Scratching my head as to Why so many put so much concerm into this subject, it's the Elvis famiy's business.

[icecream]

Originally Posted by James28

So this is saying the Elvis estate should go to NO ONE after Priscilla dies despite Lisa Marie having already died last January. I agree that it has to be Riley who gets the estate. What's the point in Priscilla getting the estate?

I never said that. After Priscilla dies then all of it can go to Riley. Even if they weren't still married at the time of his death, Priscilla deserves a share of his estate after all the cheating he put her through (which is the likely reason for their divorce). She could always co-run it with Riley and they work together. Priscilla is really old now, so it's not like she will be around many decades longer. Lisa Marie squandered so much of Graceland's money on her three ex-husbands, if Elvis had known she would turn out like that he might not have put it all in her name.