North Palm Beach Real Estate Litigation Attorney

A real estate dispute in North Palm Beach rarely stays small for long. A contract to buy a commercial parcel falls apart days before closing, a sibling refuses to sell the family property, or a landlord and tenant stop speaking and start sending notices. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team handles business and real estate litigation for owners, investors, and families throughout Palm Beach County and Broward County, and we regularly act as a North Palm Beach real estate litigation attorney for clients whose property rights are in dispute.

Most of these cases fall into a handful of patterns: failed closings and purchase and sale contract disputes, co-owners who cannot agree on what to do with a property, competing claims of ownership that cloud title, and landlord and tenant conflicts. Each pattern runs on its own clock and its own statute, and the first decision you make, often before you have spoken to a lawyer, can narrow your options later.

Cases from North Palm Beach are filed in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, which sits in and for Palm Beach County. Because the circuit is a general jurisdiction court with a large bench, most disputes over real property land in circuit civil court, and where a business entity is co-owner, the case often has a corporate or LLC dimension as well.

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 some of South Florida’s most difficult business and real estate disputes. Founder Andrew M. Schwartz has spent 37 years in litigation and has practiced in Florida since being admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989. His career is built around complex contract disputes, business divorces, and conflicts among partners, LLC members, and shareholders, and that background matters in real estate cases because so many property fights are really fights between people who own something together. The firm serves clients in North Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, and throughout Palm Beach County and Broward County, along with clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who hold property here.

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. The firm works as a true legal team, so everyone on your matter knows the file, and we keep a strict 24 hour return call policy if we are in court when you call. We are experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as courtroom litigation, and we aim for the resolution that fits your goals and budget rather than stretching a case out for its own sake.

Trial experience counts in this field. After a 5-day bench trial in Broward County, the circuit court issued a 32-page final judgment awarding our client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. Outcomes like that depend on the same things every real estate case depends on: the exact wording of the agreement, the history between the parties, and a record built carefully from the start.

Real Estate Disputes We Handle for North Palm Beach Owners and Investors

• Failed Closings and Purchase Contract Disputes: Buyers who want the property they contracted for, and sellers who want to enforce a deposit or walk away, often turn on deadlines, contingencies, and default language in the contract itself. Specific performance, which asks a court to order the sale to go through, carries a one-year limitations period.
• Partition Actions: When co-owners cannot agree, Florida’s partition statute lets a court divide the land or order it sold and the proceeds shared. This comes up among former business partners, siblings who inherited together, unmarried couples, and investors who want out.
• Quiet Title and Title Disputes: A quiet title action asks the court to settle who owns land and to remove a cloud created by a competing deed, conveyance, or claim. These cases also help clients who need to separate themselves from title to a property.
• Commercial Lease and Landlord-Tenant Conflicts: Nonpayment, lease defaults, and terminations are governed by strict notice rules, and a misstep in the notice can undo an otherwise sound case.
• Co-Owner Fights Inside Business Entities: Real estate held through an LLC or corporation raises operating agreement and fiduciary duty questions alongside the property questions, including deadlocked management and judicial dissolution.
• Diverted or Missing Funds Tied to Property: Rental income, sale proceeds, or capital contributions that cannot be accounted for can support claims for an accounting, breach of fiduciary duty, and recovery of the money.
• Injunctions and Emergency Relief: When a property is about to be transferred, encumbered, or damaged, the firm seeks temporary and permanent injunctions, including early emergency relief, to hold things in place while the case proceeds.

What to Do and What to Watch When a Property Dispute Starts

Start by gathering paper before anything else. Pull the contract, any amendments, the deed, the operating agreement if an entity holds title, the lease, and every notice and email exchanged. In real estate cases the written record tends to decide the outcome, and in Florida the statute of limitations on a claim founded on a written instrument is five years, while a contract claim without a written instrument gets four. Some claims run much shorter. An action for specific performance has to be brought within one year, and a negligence-based claim, including against a professional such as an inspector or surveyor, generally has two years, with the professional malpractice period running from when the claim was or should have been discovered.

Be careful about what you sign and say while the dispute is live. Accepting a partial payment, agreeing to an extension by text, or taking possession informally can all change the legal picture. In landlord-tenant matters, the notice is everything. For unpaid rent, a landlord must deliver written demand and wait three days, not counting weekends or court-observed holidays, before terminating. For other violations that can be fixed, the notice must give the tenant seven days to cure. Accepting partial rent does not by itself waive the landlord’s right to terminate, but the landlord must then handle the partial payment properly, such as giving a receipt, depositing it in the court registry, or posting a new notice.

Where a case is filed depends on the claim. A suit to quiet title can be filed in any county where part of the land sits, and a partition action is brought in chancery. Palm Beach County cases are heard in circuit civil court in West Palm Beach, and the clerk also maintains a north county courthouse in Palm Beach Gardens. Claims in a county court cannot exceed a set dollar limit, so larger property disputes go to circuit court. If the property or parties are in Broward County instead, the Seventeenth Circuit handles it, and that circuit has a complex business division for large business and construction disputes and certain entity dissolutions. Federal court in the Southern District of Florida sits in West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale for cases that qualify.

If you live out of state, you do not need to travel for every hearing. We handle the local court appearances and keep you informed at each stage, which is how we regularly represent clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with Palm Beach County property.

How Partition, Quiet Title, and Ownership Cases Actually Unfold

A partition case begins with a complaint that describes the land, names every owner and where each lives, and states what share each holds. Once the court enters a judgment of partition, it appoints three commissioners, chosen by the court unless the parties agree on who they should be. The commissioners report whether the land can be divided fairly. If it cannot be divided without prejudice to the owners, the court may order a sale at public auction and split the proceeds in proportion to each owner’s interest. If the court allows a sale on credit for good cause, at least one-third of the price must be paid down unless everyone consents to other terms.

Inherited property gets special treatment. Florida’s Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act applies to actions filed on or after July 1, 2020, and it covers tenancy-in-common property where there is no binding agreement among the cotenants, someone took title from a relative, and certain further conditions are met, such as twenty percent or more of the interests being held by relatives. When the act applies, a court cannot simply order a forced sale. Partition in kind is only ordered after the commissioners have weighed the statutory factors and found that dividing the land would prejudice the cotenants as a group. If you are a family member trying to keep a property, or a co-owner trying to cash out, this changes your strategy considerably.

Quiet title cases follow a different logic. The court has jurisdiction over claims by anyone asserting legal or equitable title, and over disputes where two or more people claim the same land under a common title. A plaintiff generally must deraign title for at least seven years before suing unless the court orders otherwise. Where the dispute grows out of an alleged fraudulent conveyance, the statute provides for summary procedure and directs the court to move the case up the calendar, which can be a real advantage when time matters.

Adverse possession is the flip side of an ownership dispute. A person claiming it without color of title must show actual, continued possession for seven years under a claim of title exclusive of any other right, and must also file a return with a full legal description with the county property appraiser. Under color of title, possession must be continuous for seven years and the instrument has to be recorded with the circuit court clerk in the county where the land sits. Separately, a suit to recover real property is barred unless the plaintiff or a predecessor held possession within seven years before filing.

When the co-owner is a business entity, the remedies widen. A court can dissolve an LLC on a member’s petition where the owners are deadlocked and irreparable injury is threatened, where assets are being misappropriated or wasted, or where it is not reasonably practicable to carry on activities under the operating agreement. The court can appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing, or order a buyout of the petitioning member. If the operating agreement already contains a deadlock sale mechanism and it is started before the court finds deadlock, that provision generally controls instead.

Questions North Palm Beach Property Owners Ask Us

What is the deadline to sue over a breach of a real estate contract in Florida?

For a claim founded on a written instrument, the limitations period is five years. A claim on an oral or implied contract has four years. Specific performance, which asks the court to compel the sale itself, carries a one-year period, so waiting can cost you that remedy even when a damages claim survives.

Can a court force the other side to close on a property?

Yes, in appropriate cases. Specific performance is an equitable remedy, and the firm has obtained a final judgment awarding it for a commercial real estate contract after a 5-day bench trial. Whether it fits your situation depends on the contract language, your own performance, and how quickly you act.

How does a partition action work if my co-owner will not sell?

You file in chancery, describing the land and the owners’ shares. If the court enters a judgment of partition, it appoints three commissioners. If the property cannot be divided fairly, it may be sold at public auction and the proceeds divided according to ownership interests.

Does inheriting property with relatives change how partition works?

It can. Florida’s heirs property act applies to qualifying tenancy-in-common property acquired from a relative, and it limits forced sales. The court must first consider whether dividing the property in kind is feasible, and the statute gives cotenants protections they would not have in an ordinary partition.

What is a quiet title action, and when do I need one?

It is a lawsuit asking a court to declare who owns land and to remove a cloud on the title, such as a competing deed or claim. You need one when someone who is not the rightful owner holds a conveyance or asserts a claim that blocks a sale, financing, or clear ownership.

Can I file in the county where the property is, even if I live elsewhere?

A quiet title complaint may be filed in any county where part of the land is located. Out-of-state owners can bring or defend these cases through our firm without being present for every hearing.

My co-owner is draining rental income from our property. What can I do?

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

Does a landlord lose the right to evict by accepting partial rent?

No, accepting partial rent does not by itself waive the right to terminate or sue. The landlord must handle the payment correctly, either by giving a receipt stating the date, amount, and balance due, placing the money in the court registry when filing, or serving a new three-day notice for the new amount.

If my business owns the property, can a deadlocked LLC be dissolved to resolve a real estate fight?

Possibly. A member can petition the circuit court for judicial dissolution on grounds including deadlock with threatened irreparable injury or misappropriation of assets. The court may instead appoint a receiver or custodian or order a buyout, and an agreed deadlock sale provision in the operating agreement can take priority.

Do real estate disputes always end in a trial?

No. Many resolve through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, and our attorneys are experienced in all three. We pursue the route most likely to meet your goals efficiently, and we prepare every case as if it will be tried so that settlement talks happen from strength.

Should I hire a lawyer for a smaller property dispute?

Often yes, because the stakes can exceed the sticker price. A defective notice, a missed one-year deadline, or an unrecorded interest can cost far more than the fee for early advice. Disputes up to the county court limit may be heard in county court, and larger ones in circuit court.

Serving Real Estate Litigation Clients From North Palm Beach Across South Florida

From North Palm Beach, our team represents owners and investors throughout northern Palm Beach County, including Juno Beach, Lake Park, Palm Beach Gardens, Riviera Beach, and Jupiter. We also serve clients in West Palm Beach, Lake Worth Beach, Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, and Boca Raton, along with the other communities of Palm Beach County.

In Broward County, we represent clients in Fort Lauderdale, Deerfield Beach, Pompano Beach, Coral Springs, Plantation, Hollywood, and the surrounding communities. Many of our clients live in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut and own business or investment property here, and we handle their South Florida cases from start to finish.

Talk With a North Palm Beach Real Estate Litigation Lawyer

If a closing has collapsed, a co-owner is blocking a sale, or a competing claim has clouded your title, the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can review your documents and tell you what remedies and deadlines apply. As a North Palm Beach real estate litigation lawyer for owners, investors, and families, we will give you an honest assessment of the dispute and the most cost-effective path forward. Call us to schedule a consultation.