Royal Palm Beach Real Estate Litigation Attorney

Getting a property dispute resolved usually means one of a few concrete outcomes: a contract the other side is forced to honor, a cloud on title cleared away, a shared property divided or sold, or a bad tenancy ended on lawful terms. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team is a business and real estate litigation firm that helps owners, investors, and families reach those outcomes, serving Royal Palm Beach, the surrounding communities of Palm Beach County, neighboring Broward County, and clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who hold property in South Florida.

When you need a Royal Palm Beach real estate litigation attorney, the first question is rarely “should I sue?” It is “which clock is running?” Florida attaches very different deadlines to different real estate claims. A suit on a written contract generally has five years, a claim on an oral or implied agreement has four, fraud has four years from discovery, and an action for specific performance of a contract carries a one-year period. That last number surprises buyers and sellers who assume they have years to decide whether to insist on closing. Choosing the wrong remedy, or waiting on the right one, can quietly forfeit the case.

Real estate disputes also tend to involve people who cannot simply walk away from each other: co-owners of a rental property, siblings holding an inherited house, former business partners with a building in the company’s name, a landlord and a commercial tenant locked into a lease. The work is part law and part leverage, and it rewards a lawyer who knows when a court filing moves a negotiation and when it only hardens it.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for Real Estate Disputes

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents business owners, investors, and families in South Florida’s most difficult business and real estate disputes, with clients in Royal Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, and across Palm Beach and Broward Counties. Andrew M. Schwartz has spent 37 years in litigation and has been practicing in Florida since his admission to The Florida Bar in 1989. He holds an undergraduate degree from Emory University and a law degree from the University of Miami.

The firm’s results include a recent one directly on point. After a five-day bench trial, a Broward County circuit court judge issued a 32-page final judgment awarding the firm’s client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. Winning an order that compels a counterparty to close a deal, rather than merely pay damages, is among the harder outcomes in real estate litigation, and it required precisely the kind of close reading of contract language and dealing history that the firm builds every case around.

Andrew is joined by Senior Counsel Sundeep Nath, a Northwestern-trained litigator with years of experience in business and real estate cases in both state and federal courts. The firm works as a true legal team, so everyone on your matter knows your file and can answer when you call, and it keeps a strict 24-hour return call policy when attorneys are in court. Clients tend to arrive expecting to hire the most aggressive lawyer available. What they usually want is someone who acts as the situation requires and uses finesse when finesse will do, at a cost that makes common sense. The firm is equally comfortable in mediation, arbitration, and trial, and it also accepts referrals from other attorneys, including out of state counsel whose clients have Florida property problems.

Real Estate Disputes We Litigate for Royal Palm Beach Owners and Investors

• Purchase and Sale Contract Disputes: Failed closings, disputed deposits, financing and inspection contingencies, and sellers who walk away from a deal after a better offer appears. Remedies range from damages to a court order compelling the sale to close.
• Partition Actions: When co-owners cannot agree to keep, sell, or divide a property, a partition suit asks the court to split it physically or order a sale and divide the proceeds by ownership share. These cases commonly involve siblings, unmarried couples, and former business partners.
• Heirs Property Cases: Property held in common after a relative’s death can fall under Florida’s Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act, which adds protections for family cotenants before a forced sale can happen.
• Quiet Title Actions: A suit to determine who owns land and to cancel competing deeds, liens, or claims that cloud the record. Plaintiffs generally must trace their chain of title back at least seven years.
• Adverse Possession and Boundary Claims: Disputes over who has used or occupied land, including claims that rest on seven years of continuous possession, with or without recorded color of title.
• Commercial Lease Disputes: Defaults, personal guaranties, build-out and maintenance obligations, and early terminations involving retail, office, and industrial space.
• Residential Landlord and Tenant Matters: Nonpayment, lease violations, and terminations, which in Florida turn on strict written-notice requirements.
• Real Property Held by a Company: Disputes among LLC members or shareholders over a building the entity owns, including misappropriated rents, deadlock over a sale, and judicial dissolution.
• Injunctions Protecting Property: Temporary and permanent injunctive relief to stop a transfer, encumbrance, or interference while the case is pending.

What to Do Right Now When a Property Dispute Is Brewing

Start by pinning down the document that governs the dispute: the signed contract, the deed, the lease, the operating agreement, or the co-ownership agreement. Then work out which deadline attaches to your claim. A written-contract claim has five years, but a specific performance claim has just one, and a negligence-based claim arising after the 2023 amendments has two. If your situation could be framed more than one way, the shorter period often controls how fast you need to act. Gather the recorded deeds, closing statements, emails and texts with the other side, proof of payments, tax and insurance records, and photographs. Do not sign a new agreement, deed, or “settlement” under pressure before a lawyer has read it.

If you are a landlord, follow the notice statute to the letter. For unpaid rent, the tenant gets three days, excluding weekends and court-observed holidays, after written demand for payment or possession. For lease violations that can be cured, the notice must give seven days to fix the problem; for violations that cannot be cured, or repeat violations within twelve months of a written warning, the notice gives seven days to vacate. Accepting partial rent after serving the notice does not waive your right to terminate, but you must handle the partial payment correctly by issuing a receipt, depositing it into the court registry when you file, or serving a fresh notice for the new balance. A defective notice can sink an eviction and force you to start over.

Where the case is heard depends on the stakes and the claim. Disputes over title, partition, and the more significant contract claims belong in circuit court, which sits for Palm Beach County as the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, and the county clerk maintains a Royal Palm Beach branch for local filings. Claims between $8,000 and the county court ceiling go to county civil court, while small claims cover amounts up to $8,000. A quiet title action can be filed in any county where part of the land lies. If the property or the opposing party is in Broward County, the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit applies, and that circuit operates a complex business division that handles large business and construction litigation. Federal court in the Southern District of Florida, which sits in West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale among other cities, becomes relevant when parties are from different states and the dispute is large enough.

Common mistakes are predictable. Owners wait on a specific performance claim because they are still hoping the deal will close. Co-owners stop paying taxes and insurance and then discover they have given the other side an argument. Landlords accept rent after a termination notice without understanding the consequences. Out of state owners assume they must travel for every hearing; they do not, because the firm handles local appearances and keeps you informed at each stage.

How Partition and Quiet Title Cases Actually Unfold

Partition is a creature of the court’s equitable power. The complaint must describe the land, identify each owner and where they live, and state what share each holds. After judgment, the court appoints three commissioners, chosen by the court unless the parties agree on them, to determine whether the property can be divided fairly. If they report that a division would prejudice the owners, the court may order a sale at public auction and split the proceeds in proportion to ownership. A sale on credit is possible for good cause, but at least one-third of the price must be paid down unless everyone consents otherwise. For true heirs property, the rules change: a judgment of partition in kind is not entered unless the court is satisfied the commissioners weighed the statutory factors and found that dividing the land would prejudice the cotenants as a group, and the Act gives family cotenants meaningful protection against a forced sale. A threshold issue is therefore whether the property qualifies, which depends in part on how title was acquired and whether twenty percent or more of the interests are held by relatives.

Quiet title cases serve a different purpose. A plaintiff who holds legal or equitable title, or who claims alongside others under a common title, can ask the court to cancel a conveyance or other evidence of title held by someone who is not the rightful owner. Where the dispute stems from a fraudulent attempted conveyance, the statute allows summary procedure and directs the court to advance the case on its calendar. These actions often follow a forged or defective deed, a lien that should have been released, or a family transfer that was never properly documented.

When the real estate is owned through a company, the dispute often becomes a business divorce in disguise. A court can dissolve an LLC when members are deadlocked and irreparable injury is threatened, when assets are being misappropriated or wasted, or when it is no longer reasonably practicable to operate under the operating agreement. A court can also appoint a receiver or custodian after notice and a hearing, or order a buyout of a petitioning member. For corporations, shareholders who petition for dissolution can face an election by the company or other shareholders to purchase their shares at fair value, and if the parties agree on value within 60 days of the first election, the court enters an order on those terms. Courts may also issue injunctions and take other steps to preserve assets during the case. Any deadlock sale provision in your operating or shareholder agreement should be reviewed early, because it can displace the court-ordered remedies.

Questions Royal Palm Beach Property Owners Ask About Real Estate Litigation

How long do I have to sue over a breach of a real estate contract in Florida?

It depends on the claim. A suit on a written contract generally has five years, while an oral or implied contract has four. A claim seeking specific performance, meaning a court order forcing the other side to complete the deal, has one year. Because these periods differ, how your claim is framed can decide whether it is timely.

What is specific performance and when is it available?

Specific performance is a court order requiring a party to carry out a contract rather than pay money for breaking it. Courts view each parcel of land as unique, so it is a recognized remedy in real estate cases. It requires a valid contract, a party ready and able to perform, and a prompt filing within the one-year period.

Can one co-owner force the sale of a property in Florida?

Generally, yes. Any co-owner can ask a court for partition. If the property cannot be fairly divided, the court may order it sold at public auction and divide the proceeds by ownership share. Different rules apply when the property is heirs property, which gives family cotenants additional protection.

What counts as heirs property?

It is real property held as tenants in common with no binding agreement among all cotenants about partition, where at least one cotenant acquired title from a relative and further statutory conditions are met, such as relatives holding twenty percent or more of the interests. If it qualifies, partition proceeds under the heirs property provisions unless all cotenants agree otherwise in writing.

What does a quiet title action accomplish?

It results in a court judgment declaring who owns the land and cancelling competing claims, deeds, or other evidence of title that cloud ownership. It is commonly used to clear defective or fraudulent conveyances and to resolve conflicting claims among people who trace title to the same source.

Can I claim land through adverse possession in Florida?

Possibly, but the requirements are demanding. Without color of title, you need actual, continuous, exclusive possession for seven years under a claim of title, and you must file a return with the property appraiser that includes a full legal description. With color of title, seven years of continuous possession is also required, and the instrument must be recorded in the county.

What happens if my business partner is selling or encumbering company property?

You may be able to seek a temporary injunction to stop the transaction while the case is pending, along with claims for breach of fiduciary duty and an accounting. Moving quickly matters, because once property is sold or mortgaged to a third party, the remedies become more complicated.

Can a landlord evict a tenant who pays part of the rent late?

The landlord may still proceed, but must handle the partial payment properly by giving a receipt that states the amount received and balance due, placing the money in the court registry when filing, or serving a new notice for the reduced amount. Accepting partial rent does not by itself waive the right to terminate.

Do I have to come to Florida for every hearing if I live in New York or New Jersey?

No. The firm regularly represents clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with Florida property interests, handles the local court appearances, and uses scheduled conference calls to keep you current.

Does every real estate dispute end up in a courtroom?

No. Many are resolved through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, and the right strategy often combines a credible litigation posture with a realistic path to settlement. Some contracts and operating agreements require mediation or arbitration before any suit can be filed, so that language should be reviewed first.

Is it worth hiring a lawyer for a smaller property dispute?

Often it is, because the cost of a missed deadline or defective notice can exceed the dollar value of the dispute itself. A consultation can tell you whether the claim belongs in small claims, county court, or circuit court, and whether negotiation might resolve it more cheaply.

What should I bring to a first meeting?

Bring the contract, lease, or deed at issue; any operating or co-ownership agreement; correspondence with the other side; payment records; and any notices you have sent or received. A timeline of key events is helpful.

Serving Royal Palm Beach and Surrounding Palm Beach County Communities

The firm’s real estate litigation work starts in Royal Palm Beach and extends across Palm Beach County, including Wellington, Loxahatchee, Loxahatchee Groves, Acreage, Lake Worth, Greenacres, West Palm Beach, Palm Springs, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, Boca Raton, Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens, Riviera Beach, Lantana, and Belle Glade. Clients with property in the western communities and in the coastal cities alike turn to the firm for contract, title, partition, and landlord-tenant disputes.

The firm also represents owners and investors in neighboring Broward County, including Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Coral Springs, Parkland, Plantation, Hollywood, and Davie. Many clients live elsewhere, particularly in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, and hold investment property or a share of real estate in South Florida with co-owners or partners who are local.

Talk With a Royal Palm Beach Real Estate Litigation Lawyer

If a contract is being broken, a title is clouded, a co-owner will not cooperate, or a tenant situation needs to be resolved the right way, the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can evaluate your position and tell you plainly which remedy fits and how soon it must be pursued. As a Royal Palm Beach real estate litigation lawyer team serving Palm Beach and Broward Counties, we will review your documents, explain your options, and recommend the path that serves your goals and budget. Call to schedule a consultation.