Verlan Y. Kwan
Verlan Y. Kwan
Biography
Verlan Y. Kwan is a Partner at Keystone Law Group, P.C. with her primary focus on trust and estate administration and litigation. With over a decade of litigation experience, Verlan has represented trustees, executors, administrators, creditors, heirs and beneficiaries in complex disputes with assets ranging from several hundred thousands of dollars to tens of millions of dollars. With her broad knowledge and compassionate approach to matters, Verlan has successfully litigated and settled countless matters to her clients’ satisfaction.
In addition to disputed matters, Verlan also specializes in advising fiduciaries in high– net worth estates and trusts. Furthermore, Verlan has acted as the Administrator of estates for foreign heirs and beneficiaries, thereby allowing her to proficiently advise executors, administrators and trustees on estate and trust administration matters. Verlan regularly appears in courts throughout California, including but not limited to, Los Angeles County, Riverside County, San Mateo County, Ventura County, San Bernardino County, Orange County, and San Francisco County.
Prior to joining Keystone, Verlan began her legal career with an AmLaw 100 law firm concentrating on complex antitrust litigation for several years and subsequently worked on wage and hour class action matters.
Awards/Recognitions
- The Best Lawyers in America by Best Lawyers®: Litigation – Trust and Estates; Trusts and Estates (2025)
- Top Women Lawyers by Daily Journal (2024)
- Top 50: Women Southern California Super Lawyers by Super Lawyers Magazine (2023, 2024)
- Super Lawyer by Super Lawyers Magazine (2017-2024)
- Rising Star by Super Lawyers Magazine (2016)
- Top Women Attorneys of Southern California, Los Angeles Magazine (September 2018)
Publications / Speaking Engagements
- Strategic Considerations in Requesting Beneficiary Approval of Trustee’s Proposed Action (forthcoming), CEB, Practitioner.
- Attorney Fee Agreement for a Probate Administration (forthcoming), CEB, Practitioner.
- Attorney-Client Fee Agreement, Representing the Trustee (forthcoming), CEB, Practitioner.
- National Business Institute (NBI) Topic: “Spousal Rights” November 20, 2019.
- Fiduciary Accounts, Requirements, Issues and Common Mistakes, Los Angeles County Bar Association Brown Bag Event, September 13, 2018 – Drafted the written materials for distributed use with the event.
- Probate Bootcamp, National Business Institute (NBI) Topic: “Closing the Estate” June 16, 2017.
Verlan Y. Kwan
Partner
Phone: 310.444.9060
Email: verlan@keystone-law.com
Biography
Verlan Y. Kwan is a Partner at Keystone Law Group, P.C. with her primary focus on trust and estate administration and litigation. With over a decade of litigation experience, Verlan has represented trustees, executors, administrators, creditors, heirs and beneficiaries in complex disputes with assets ranging from several hundred thousands of dollars to tens of millions of dollars. With her broad knowledge and compassionate approach to matters, Verlan has successfully litigated and settled countless matters to her clients’ satisfaction.
In addition to disputed matters, Verlan also specializes in advising fiduciaries in high– net worth estates and trusts. Furthermore, Verlan has acted as the Administrator of estates for foreign heirs and beneficiaries, thereby allowing her to proficiently advise executors, administrators and trustees on estate and trust administration matters. Verlan regularly appears in courts throughout California, including but not limited to, Los Angeles County, Riverside County, San Mateo County, Ventura County, San Bernardino County, Orange County, and San Francisco County.
Prior to joining Keystone, Verlan began her legal career with an AmLaw 100 law firm concentrating on complex antitrust litigation for several years and subsequently worked on wage and hour class action matters.
Awards/Recognitions
- The Best Lawyers in America by Best Lawyers®: Litigation – Trust and Estates; Trusts and Estates (2025)
- Top Women Lawyers by Daily Journal (2024)
- Top 50: Women Southern California Super Lawyers by Super Lawyers Magazine (2023, 2024)
- Super Lawyer by Super Lawyers Magazine (2017-2024)
- Rising Star by Super Lawyers Magazine (2016)
- Top Women Attorneys of Southern California, Los Angeles Magazine (September 2018)
Publications / Speaking Engagements
- Strategic Considerations in Requesting Beneficiary Approval of Trustee’s Proposed Action (forthcoming), CEB, Practitioner.
- Attorney Fee Agreement for a Probate Administration (forthcoming), CEB, Practitioner.
- Attorney-Client Fee Agreement, Representing the Trustee (forthcoming), CEB, Practitioner.
- National Business Institute (NBI) Topic: “Spousal Rights” November 20, 2019.
- Fiduciary Accounts, Requirements, Issues and Common Mistakes, Los Angeles County Bar Association Brown Bag Event, September 13, 2018 – Drafted the written materials for distributed use with the event.
- Probate Bootcamp, National Business Institute (NBI) Topic: “Closing the Estate” June 16, 2017.
Education
Verlan graduated from California Western School of Law and received her Bachelor of the Arts in Political Science with a concentration in American Law and a minor in Cognitive Psychology from the University of California, Irvine where she was on the Dean’s List.
Bar Admissions
- California
- United States District Courts for the Central Districts of California
Memberships
- California Lawyers Association, Trusts & Estates and Litigation Sections
- Los Angeles County Bar Association, Trusts & Estates and Litigation Sections
- East Bay Trust & Estate Lawyers
Representative Matters
- Successfully litigated and obtained a favorable settlement for a client in recovering her community property interest worth tens of millions from her deceased husband’s trust in a multi-jurisdictional action spanning three states.
- Successfully invalidated an irrevocable qualified personal residence trust procured through undue influence by one of the children of the living settlor.
- Obtained a judgment in excess of $200,000 against a client’s prior attorney for his failure to make the proper allegations in his representation of the client in a trust contest that resulted in lost inheritance.
- Advised over 100+ clients, located throughout the United States and abroad, on trust and estates administration with assets valued upwards of tens of millions of dollars in multiple states.
- Successfully represented beneficiaries in enforcing their rights in an estate proceeding that had been open for 20+ years.
- Successfully represented caretakers in enforcing their beneficial rights to a trust and insurance policy where the estate planning attorney failed to provide the settlor with a certificate of independent review.
- Represented clients on real property transfers without the need for a formal probate.
- Obtained favorable outcomes for clients in correcting the title to real property for the purposes of maximizing the step-up in basis at the death of the first spouse.
- Prosecuted financial elder abuse claims on behalf of heirs of a decedent.
- Handled arbitrations, mediations and settlement conferences in state and federal court.
- Regularly represent and advise clients in conservatorship matters.
- Represented clients in obtaining guardianships.