Inside Elvis' Graceland And Its Storied Past

After Elvis Presley's death in 1977, his estate was left in the hands of his father, Vernon, who in turn appointed executors to succeed him on his own death. According to the official Graceland website, they were the National Bank of Commerce in Memphis, Joseph Hanks (Elvis' accountant), and Priscilla Presley, with the estate held in trust until Elvis' daughter and heir, Lisa Marie Presley, came of age. But that estate was in trouble. While nowhere near destitute, Elvis' free-spending in life left meant that his executors faced cash flow problems in maintaining Graceland. Their solution, starting in 1982, was to open it up to public tours.

The trust managed the operation of Graceland as a tourist attraction until 1993 when Lisa Marie came into her inheritance. She created a new trust, the Elvis Presley Trust, to keep up the good work, and established Elvis Presley Enterprises (EPE) as its business arm. Lisa Marie headed EPE until 2005 when, according to CNN, she sold a controlling interest to CKX (later Core Media). Authentic Brands Group picked up the rights to Elvis' intellectual property and assumed the operation of Graceland.

Through all this wheeling and dealing, Lisa Marie retained control of one key piece of her father's legacy: Graceland itself. While operations have been delegated, Lisa Marie was the sole owner of the mansion, its acreage, and all of Elvis Presley's remaining effects until her death.

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