Photo: @lisamariepresley / Instagram
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By Megan Quinn — Written on Jan 17, 2023
Following the death of Lisa Marie Presley, the fate of her father's fortune is in transition. As the only daughter of iconic musician Elvis Presley, Lisa Marie was her father's sole heir.
It is safe to assume that her three surviving children will inherit any remaining fortunes passed down to them by their late mother. She reportedly gained a $100 million inheritance from her own father that would later be inherited by Lisa Marie’s children.
However, it may now not be as much as they were originally promised.
Lisa Marie Presley lost the $100 million fortune her father Elvis left her.
After Elvis’s death in 1977, his ex-wife Priscilla, whom he divorced in 1973, served as one of the executors in the management of the Elvis Presley Estate.
Priscilla launched Elvis Presley Enterprises (EPE) to manage all of her late ex-husband’s remaining fortunes and image rights.
The estate reportedly was able to increase its worth to $100 million by converting Elvis’ Tennesse mansion, Graceland, into a tourist attraction, images, and merchandising by 1993.
That same year, Lisa Marie turned 25 and became eligible to inherit the money under Elvis’ Last Will and Testament.
However, the late rockstar’s daughter created her own revocable living trust that same year and appointed trustees over her inheritance via her new trust.
Lisa Marie eventually appointed her business manager, Barry Siegel to make primary decisions managing the trust assets.
Although Siegel wound up selling 85% of the Trust’s interests to EPE, the deal still brought about $40 million to Lisa Marie after taxes, with an additional $25 million worth of stock in the future holding the company American Idol.
Unfortunately, a majority of the money was gone in a decade, lost between the years of 2005 to 2015, leaving Lisa Marie in debt.
She took legal action and eventually sued Siegel and his financial company in 2018, blaming the downfall of the Trust on the EPE sale and the investment into the American Idol holding, which went bankrupt.
She claims that if Siegel had properly informed her of the state of the Trust, she would have withheld herself from regularly spending so much money.
By 2015, the Trust was left with only $14,000 in cash. Additionally, Lisa Marie owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes and other debt.
Her former co-trustee blames the lost money on Lisa Marie’s ‘excessive spending.’
Siegel claimed that he tried to convince Lisa Marie to limit her spending and that he held annual meetings with her where he presented her with financial information regarding the Trust.
However, he alleged that she did not want hard copies of the financial information of her wariness of frequent house visitors.
He believes that there is nobody to blame but Lisa Marie herself for not taking all aspects into account when spending the Trust money.
As a result, her three children will never benefit from it.
Lisa Marie’s children will reportedly inherit Graceland, Elvis’s Memphis Estate.
The late celebrity has three living children, 33-year-old daughter Riley and twin daughters, Harper Vivienne and Finley, 14. Her only son, Benjamin, took his life in July 2020 at 27 years old.
The sisters will most likely split Graceland, the massive estate purchased by Elvis in 1957 for $100,000.
The home built in 1937 was opened to tourists in 1982 and sees up to 600,000 visitors a year. The Presleys occasionally close it off to the public and gather for significant holidays, including Thanksgiving.
Lisa Marie owned 100 percent of the Graceland property before her death.
Lisa Marie Presley died suddenly on January 12, 2023, after suffering from cardiac arrest.
The 54-year-old was rushed to the hospital after paramedics were called to her home, where they performed CPR, noting that the patient showed “signs of life.”
Lisa Marie, however, died later that day at the hospital.
"It is with a heavy heart that I must share the devastating news that my beautiful daughter Lisa Marie has left us," her mother, Priscilla, confirmed in a statement to People.
"She was the most passionate strong and loving woman I have ever known. We ask for privacy as we try to deal with this profound loss. Thank you for the love and prayers. At this time there will be no further comment."
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.