Boca Raton Family Business Dispute Attorney

A company owned by relatives rarely fails because of a bad quarter. It fails because a brother stopped speaking to a sister, a father will not hand over the checkbook, or an in-law quietly started paying himself more than anyone agreed to. In Palm Beach County, those fights usually end up in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, and the paperwork that decides them (operating agreements, shareholder agreements, deeds, bank records) often says less about family arrangements than the family believes it does. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team handles business and real estate litigation for owners in Boca Raton, Palm Beach County, and Broward County, and a Boca Raton family business dispute attorney from our firm can sort out what the documents actually say and what the court can actually do.

These cases differ from ordinary partner disputes because the business and the family share the same table. Siblings who inherited a company, parents and children who disagree about its future, spouses and in-laws who hold shares: each of them may be an owner, an employee, a lender, and a relative at once. A handshake understanding about who runs what, who gets paid, and who inherits control tends to surface only when someone breaks it. Our job is to turn that tangle into claims a court can decide, or into a negotiated separation that lets everyone keep what is fairly theirs.

Where Family Business Fights Turn Into Lawsuits

Most family disputes start with a single event: a death, a retirement, a divorce, a new spouse, or the discovery that money is missing. After that, the legal questions are fairly predictable. Who owns what percentage? Who has authority to act? Is anyone taking more than they should? Can the business survive with these owners, or does it have to split?

Florida gives an owner real tools when the answer is no. In an LLC, a member can ask the circuit court for judicial dissolution on specific grounds under chapter 605: the owners are deadlocked and the company faces irreparable injury, assets are being misappropriated or wasted, those in control are acting illegally or fraudulently, or it is no longer reasonably practicable to run the company under its operating agreement. For corporations, chapter 607 allows a shareholder to petition for dissolution on comparable grounds, and it gives the corporation or the other shareholders a way to avoid dissolution by buying out the petitioner at fair value. That buyout mechanism matters in family companies, because often nobody actually wants the business destroyed; one side just wants out, or wants the other side out.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for a Family-Owned Business Dispute

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team is a Boca Raton business litigation firm that represents business owners, investors, and families in South Florida’s difficult business and real estate disputes, serving Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and communities throughout Palm Beach County and Broward County. Andrew M. Schwartz, the firm’s founder, was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989 and has spent 37 years in litigation, with a career built around contract disputes, business divorces, and conflicts among partners, LLC members, and shareholders. He earned his undergraduate degree at Emory University in 1986 and his law degree at the University of Miami in 1989.

Andrew is joined by Senior Counsel Sundeep Nath, a Northwestern-trained litigator with years of experience in business and real estate cases in state and federal courts. That matters when a family dispute spills across forums, for example a corporate fight in circuit court alongside a title claim on property the company uses. The firm practices as a true legal team, so everyone working on your file knows it, and we keep a strict 24 hour return call policy when we are in court or otherwise unavailable. Our attorneys are experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as courtroom litigation, and in family matters we generally look first for the resolution that serves the client’s goals and budget.

The firm’s recent record includes a five-day bench trial in Broward County that ended in a 32-page final judgment granting our client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. We bring that same trial preparation to family business cases, where the outcome often turns on the precise wording of an agreement and the history of how the owners actually dealt with one another. A family business dispute lawyer who has tried cases to judgment negotiates differently than one who has not, and the other side usually knows it.

Common Family Business Disputes We Handle

• Sibling Disputes After an Inheritance: Brothers and sisters who inherit a company or its real estate often share ownership without any written agreement about control, pay, or exit. Disagreements about who manages the business and who simply collects distributions are a frequent trigger for litigation.
• Parent and Child Succession Conflicts: A founder who will not step back, or a child who believes promises were made about ownership, can produce claims over shares, compensation, and authority. These cases depend heavily on what was documented and what was only said.
• Spouse and In-Law Ownership Disputes: Divorce, remarriage, or the death of a family member can leave a non-family spouse or in-law holding an ownership interest in a closely held company, with competing views on its value and future.
• Missing or Diverted Funds: Unpaid distributions, personal expenses run through the company, commingled accounts, and a relative who cannot account for money can support claims for an accounting, breach of fiduciary duty, and recovery of funds.
• Minority Owner Squeeze-Outs: A relative in control may cut a family member out of decisions, information, or distributions. Florida’s LLC and corporate statutes give minority owners remedies, including buyout and dissolution routes.
• Breach of Operating and Shareholder Agreements: Family companies frequently have agreements that were signed years ago and never followed. Disputes over buy-sell terms, transfer restrictions, and deadlock provisions turn on the exact language.
• Shared Real Estate Held by Relatives: When relatives own property together and cannot agree on selling, renting, or buying out one another, a partition action or a quiet title action may be the way out. Where the owners are related and inherited the property, Florida’s Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act may change how a court handles the case.
• Emergency Asset Protection: When someone is moving or spending company money or property while the dispute is pending, we seek temporary or permanent injunctive relief to hold things in place.

What to Do Now if the Family Business Is Coming Apart

Start by gathering the documents before the relationship deteriorates further: the articles of organization or incorporation, the operating or shareholder agreement and every amendment, tax returns, bank and credit card statements, financing documents, deeds, leases, and any emails or texts that discuss ownership, pay, or promises. If you still have access to the company’s accounting system, preserve what you can lawfully see. Do not take files or access accounts you are not authorized to use; that can hurt you in court.

Next, read your agreement for the exit mechanics. Many operating agreements contain buyout formulas, deadlock sale provisions, or dispute resolution clauses requiring mediation or arbitration before suit. Florida’s LLC statute even says a deadlock sale provision that is properly initiated before the court finds deadlock grounds can displace a judicial dissolution order, so timing and sequence matter. We would rather learn about these clauses before you send an angry email than after.

Deadlines also deserve attention. A claim founded on a written agreement generally has five years under Florida law, while oral or implied contract claims have four, and fraud has four years from discovery with an outer limit of twelve. A suit to enforce specific performance carries a one-year period, which can arrive quickly. Negligence-type claims against outside professionals, such as an accountant, are two years. Because family business facts often stretch back a decade, the question of when a claim began can decide whether it survives.

Where you file depends on the property and the parties. Disputes in Palm Beach County are heard in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, which sits in West Palm Beach, with additional courthouses serving other parts of the county. Broward County cases go to the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit in Fort Lauderdale, and Broward has a complex business division that handles matters such as dissolution of certain business entities and large business litigation. Claims over roughly the county-court threshold stay in the circuit court, and federal court enters the picture only when jurisdiction requires it. Quiet title and partition actions can be filed in any county where part of the land sits, and both proceed in equity.

The most common mistakes we see are signing something out of guilt or frustration, moving money to “protect” it, locking a relative out of the business without authority, and waiting while evidence disappears. Talk to us before any of those. Often the first practical step is a candid assessment of your leverage, followed by a request for records or a negotiated standstill, with litigation in reserve.

How Dissolution, Buyouts, and Court Remedies Work for Closely Held Family Companies

People assume that if a family company cannot go on, the only option is to shut it down. Florida law offers more than that. In a corporate dissolution proceeding, the corporation can elect, or if it does not, one or more shareholders can elect, to purchase the petitioner’s shares at fair value. If the parties agree on value and terms within 60 days of the first election, the court enters an order directing the purchase; otherwise the court sets fair value. The election is irrevocable unless the court finds it equitable to modify it. The corporation must also tell the other shareholders within 30 days of the proceeding’s start that they may avoid dissolution this way.

For LLCs, the court may order a purchase of a petitioning member’s interest or, on a showing of sufficient merit, appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing with notice to the parties. During a corporate dissolution case the court may also issue injunctions, appoint a receiver, and take other steps to preserve assets and keep the business running until a full hearing. For a family, that structure can matter more than the dissolution itself. It lets a court freeze a bad situation so a valuation fight does not destroy the company while it is decided.

Real estate adds its own track. In a partition case, the court can divide the property in kind or order it sold; if division would prejudice the owners, the property can be sold at public auction with the proceeds divided in proportion to ownership. For inherited property shared among relatives, the heirs property statute adds protections that can steer a case toward buyout rather than a forced sale, and a judgment partitioning in kind requires findings by court-appointed commissioners. Which statute applies depends on how title was acquired and who holds it, which is why we look at the deeds early.

Questions Family Business Owners Ask Us

What counts as a family business dispute?

It is any ownership, management, money, or succession disagreement inside a company or property held by relatives or close friends. The legal claims are the same ones used in any business dispute, such as breach of agreement, breach of fiduciary duty, and dissolution, but the family relationships shape strategy and settlement.

Can I force a relative out of the company?

It depends on your operating or shareholder agreement and the facts. Many agreements include buyout or expulsion provisions, and Florida law provides court remedies for serious misconduct or when the company cannot function. We start with your documents.

What if there is no written operating or shareholder agreement?

Then the default rules in Florida’s statutes fill the gap, and courts look at what the owners actually did. A missing agreement does not end your claims, but it makes the history and documentation of how the business operated more important.

My sibling is taking money from the company. What can I do?

You may have claims for breach of fiduciary duty, an accounting, conversion, and recovery of the funds. If assets are being moved or spent, a court can issue injunctive relief to stop it while the case is pending.

Can a court order the company dissolved because of a family feud?

Not because of a feud alone. A court looks for statutory grounds: deadlock with threatened irreparable injury, misappropriation or waste of assets, illegal or fraudulent conduct by those in control, or impracticability of operating under the governing documents. We evaluate whether your facts fit.

What is the deadline to sue over a broken family business agreement?

For a claim founded on a written instrument, Florida generally allows five years. Oral or implied agreements get four years, and fraud claims have four years from discovery within a twelve-year limit. A specific performance action has a one-year period, so do not assume you have time.

How long do these cases take in Palm Beach County courts?

It varies with complexity, the judge’s calendar, and whether the parties settle. Cases that need valuation experts or forensic accounting take longer, while emergency injunction requests can be heard quickly. Many resolve in mediation before trial.

Is it worth hiring a lawyer if the business is small?

Often yes, especially if the dispute involves real estate, missing money, or control of the company. A short consultation can show whether the cost of litigating makes sense against what is at stake, and whether negotiation or mediation is the better route.

I live out of state but co-own a business with relatives in South Florida. Can you help?

Yes. We regularly represent clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, handle the local court appearances, and keep you informed so you do not have to travel for every hearing.

Can a family dispute be handled without a public lawsuit?

Often. Negotiation, mediation, and arbitration are common routes, and many operating agreements require them before filing. We handle these cases with discretion and pursue the path most likely to reach your goals efficiently.

Do you work with other attorneys on family business cases?

Yes. A significant part of our practice comes from referrals by other lawyers, including out of state attorneys whose clients have Florida disputes. We keep referring counsel informed throughout.

Serving Family Business Owners Across Palm Beach and Broward Counties

We represent family business owners from Boca Raton and nearby Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Highland Beach, and Lantana, north through Lake Worth, Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, and Jupiter, and west toward Belle Glade and the Glades communities. In Palm Beach County, our attorneys appear in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit for disputes over companies, agreements, and shared property. We also serve clients in Broward County, including Deerfield Beach, Pompano Beach, Coconut Creek, Coral Springs, Parkland, Fort Lauderdale, Plantation, Hollywood, and the surrounding communities, where cases are heard in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit. Clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with business or real estate interests in South Florida are welcome as well.

Talk With a Boca Raton Family Business Attorney Before the Dispute Hardens

When relatives cannot agree about a company or a shared property, the early decisions often matter most. A Boca Raton family business attorney at the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can review your agreements, explain your options under Florida law, and tell you plainly whether the right move is negotiation, a buyout, or court. Call us to schedule a consultation and we will talk through where you stand.