Elvis Presley's probate judge ruled that Colonel Parker's 50 percent share "shocks the conscience of the court" and ordered the estate to sue him

Elvis Presley died at Graceland, his house in Memphis, on 16 August 1977, aged 42. His will made his father, Vernon, executor and trustee for Vernon, Elvis's grandmother Minnie Mae and his daughter Lisa Marie, whose share stayed in trust until her 25th birthday. After Vernon died in 1979, the National Bank of Commerce, accountant Joseph Hanks and Priscilla Presley became co-executors. Manager Colonel Tom Parker had taken 50 cents of every dollar Presley earned and was still being paid. In 1980 the probate court appointed lawyer Blanchard E. Tual to protect Lisa Marie, a minor. Tual's reports alleged that Parker's side deals with RCA had defrauded Presley of $2.8 million. In August 1981 Probate Judge Joseph Evans ruled that Parker's compensation "shocks the conscience of the court", stopped payments to him and ordered the co-executors to sue. Parker denied wrongdoing. The IRS said the estate owed more than $14 million in back taxes. Accountants and bankers wanted to sell Graceland; it opened for tours on 7 June 1982 instead. In June 1983 Evans approved a settlement: RCA paid Parker $1 million for his Presley master recordings and paid the estate $1.1 million over 10 years, the estate paid Parker $225,000 for control of Boxcar Enterprises, and both sides dropped their suits. Tennessee's Personal Rights Protection Act of 1984 made rights in a name and likeness descendible, and on 3 April 1987 the Tennessee Court of Appeals held that Presley's right of publicity had passed to his estate. The trust ended on 1 February 1993, Lisa Marie's 25th birthday. In a deal announced on 16 December 2004 she sold 85 percent of Elvis Presley Enterprises to Robert F.X. Sillerman's CKX Inc. for $50 million plus stock and kept the mansion and most of her father's personal effects. Since her death in 2023 the mansion has been held by her trust, with her daughter Riley Keough as sole trustee.