Lantana General Counsel for Businesses and Property Owners in Palm Beach County

The goal of good outside counsel is a business that gets through its contracts, ownership questions, and leases without ever landing in a courtroom. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team provides Lantana general counsel services to business owners, investors, and family companies in Lantana and throughout Palm Beach County and Broward County, combining day-to-day legal support with the litigation experience to act decisively if a disagreement turns into a lawsuit.

Most business disputes begin as small gaps: an operating agreement that never addressed what happens when two members stop speaking, a lease signed without anyone reading the default provisions, a handshake deal that was never written down, or a company account that several people can draw from but no one reconciles. Outside general counsel is the practice of closing those gaps while they are still cheap to close. For a Lantana company, that might mean an attorney who already knows your agreements, your owners, and your property when a vendor stops paying or a partner starts asking uncomfortable questions about the books.

What Outside General Counsel Looks Like for a Lantana Business

An outside general counsel relationship works like having a legal department without the salary of a full-time employee. The firm becomes the company’s registered agent, so that service of process and state notices land with lawyers who recognize them and act on them rather than with a mailbox no one checks. From there, the work is the steady stream of questions that come up in running a company: whether a proposed contract exposes you to liability you did not expect, how to document a departing member’s exit, what a landlord is allowed to do under a commercial lease, or how to respond to a demand letter before it becomes a complaint.

The practical value shows up in timing. A call placed before you sign, before you fire a partner, or before you move money between accounts costs far less than a motion filed after the fact. A Lantana business law attorney who also tries cases reads a contract differently from a lawyer who only drafts them, because he knows which sentences end up being argued over in front of a judge and which ones nobody ever reads. That litigator’s eye is the main reason a general counsel relationship with a trial-oriented firm tends to prevent the very disputes it is built to handle.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team as Your Lantana Business Counsel

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team is a business and real estate litigation firm serving business owners, investors, and families across Lantana, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and the rest of Palm Beach County and Broward County, along with clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who hold business or real estate interests in South Florida. The firm’s work centers on business divorce, partnership and LLC member disputes, complex contract litigation, partition and title actions, injunctions, and outside general counsel services.

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 and conflicts between 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. Sundeep Nath, Senior Counsel, is a Northwestern-trained litigator with years of experience handling business and real estate cases in both state and federal courts. The firm practices as a true team, so everyone working on a matter knows the file, and a strict 24 hour return call policy applies when someone is in court and cannot pick up immediately.

The firm’s results reflect the kind of work general counsel clients may one day need. After a five-day bench trial in Broward County, the Circuit Court issued a 32-page final judgment awarding the firm’s client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. The firm is also experienced in mediation and arbitration, and it looks for the resolution that fits a client’s goals and budget rather than prolonging a case for its own sake. A significant portion of its caseload comes from referrals by other attorneys, which reflects how the profession regards its work.

Situations a General Counsel Relationship Is Built to Handle

• Operating and Shareholder Agreements: Drafting or revising the document that decides what happens at a deadlock, a buyout, or a member’s exit. Florida’s LLC statute lists deadlock, misappropriated assets, and impracticable operations as grounds a court may use to dissolve a company, but a well-written agreement with its own buyout or deadlock sale mechanism can resolve the problem privately and faster.
• Commercial Leases: Reviewing rent escalations, default and cure provisions, personal guarantees, and assignment rights before signature, and advising on enforcement when a landlord or tenant stops performing, including notice requirements that differ sharply between commercial and residential tenancies.
• Contract Review and Enforcement: Purchase agreements, vendor contracts, loan documents, and construction agreements, read for what they actually commit you to. Timing matters on enforcement, since Florida gives five years to sue on a written contract, four on an oral one, and only one year to bring a specific performance action.
• Co-Owner and Family Business Governance: Siblings, spouses, and parents and children who share a company often have no written rules on compensation, control, or succession. Putting those rules on paper while everyone is still cooperative is far easier than litigating them later.
• Company Funds and Internal Controls: Setting up accountability for distributions, capital contributions, and shared accounts so that a partner who cannot account for money is identified early, and so that an accounting claim or emergency injunction is available if funds start disappearing.
• Real Estate Held Jointly: Investment property owned by partners, relatives, or unmarried co-owners, including exit planning that anticipates partition and title questions before an owner wants out.
• Demand Letters and Early Disputes: Responding to or sending the first letter in a disagreement, when a measured response can often settle a dispute that would otherwise require a complaint.
• Registered Agent and Compliance Questions: Receiving official notices and handling the routine filings and compliance questions that arise as a company changes owners, managers, or structure.

What to Do When a Business Problem in Lantana Is Already Underway

If the relationship has already started to break down, the first step is to stop making informal moves that will later be read against you. Do not move company money, change account access, lock out a co-owner, or sign anything new until you understand how your agreements treat that action. Gather the operating or shareholder agreement and any amendments, the company’s formation documents, recent bank and accounting records, leases, the key contracts at issue, and any emails or messages in which the disagreement or the original deal was discussed. Courts decide business cases heavily on the written record and the parties’ course of dealing, so what you preserve now often shapes the outcome.

Next, identify the clock. Florida’s limitations periods vary by claim: five years for an action founded on a written instrument, four years for oral contracts, rescission, and fraud (measured from discovery, and capped at twelve years for fraud), two years for negligence and for professional malpractice claims, and just one year for specific performance. Those deadlines can drive strategy, especially when the dispute involves both a contract and a duty owed by a manager or professional. If assets are at risk of being spent or moved, the question is not only how long you have to sue but whether to seek emergency injunctive relief first.

Where a case is filed depends on the amount and the nature of the claim. County court in Palm Beach County hears actions at law up to the county court limit, which is periodically adjusted, while larger claims and equitable matters such as partition, quiet title, injunctions, and entity dissolution belong in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, which sits in and for Palm Beach County, with its main courthouse in West Palm Beach. Disputes with a Broward connection are heard in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, whose complex business division handles larger commercial and dissolution matters in Fort Lauderdale. Federal court in the Southern District of Florida sits in West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale for cases that qualify. Before any of that, mediation or negotiation frequently resolves the matter at a fraction of the cost, and an early call to counsel is the best way to decide which route fits your goals.

Business Divorce, Dissolution, and Buyout Rules Worth Knowing in Advance

General counsel clients benefit from knowing the statutory backstop their agreements sit on top of. Under Florida’s LLC act, a member or manager can ask a circuit court to dissolve the company when activities are being conducted unlawfully, when it is no longer reasonably practicable to operate under the agreement, when controlling members have acted or are expected to act illegally or fraudulently, when assets are being misappropriated or wasted, or when deadlocked owners cannot break the impasse and irreparable injury is threatened. In those cases the court may appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing, or order a buyout of the petitioning member’s interest. A deadlock sale provision in your operating agreement that is started before the court finds deadlock can displace judicial dissolution altogether, which is one more reason to write the provision carefully.

For corporations, a shareholder can seek dissolution on specified grounds, and the corporation or other shareholders can respond by electing to buy the petitioner’s shares at fair value, which avoids dissolution. If the parties agree on value and terms within 60 days of the first election, the court enters an order on those terms, and an election to purchase is generally irrevocable unless the court finds it equitable to modify it. The corporation must also notify the other shareholders of this buyout right within 30 days of the proceeding being filed. During the case, a court may issue injunctions, appoint a receiver, and take steps to preserve company assets.

Real estate adds its own tools. When co-owners cannot agree, any of them may petition for partition in chancery. The court appoints commissioners to determine whether the property can be divided fairly, and if not, it may order a sale and divide the proceeds. Heirs property, meaning land held in common among relatives who inherited it, is handled under a separate act that favors keeping property in the family and adds protections before a forced sale. Quiet title actions let an owner clear a cloud on title, and plaintiffs generally must trace their title back at least seven years. Knowing these rules in advance helps owners draft agreements and exit plans that avoid having a judge make the decision for them.

Questions Lantana Business Owners Ask About General Counsel

What does outside general counsel actually cost compared with hiring in-house?

An in-house attorney carries salary, benefits, and overhead regardless of how much legal work arises. Outside general counsel lets a company pay for the legal support it actually uses while still having a lawyer who knows the business. Many small and mid-sized Lantana companies find this a better fit until their legal volume justifies a full-time hire.

Why would my company use a litigation firm as its general counsel?

Because the most expensive legal problems are disputes, and a litigator knows how agreements fail under pressure. Drafting and advising with that perspective tends to produce contracts and operating agreements that hold up when someone challenges them.

Can the firm serve as my company’s registered agent?

Yes. Through its general counsel program, the firm acts as the company’s registered agent, which means lawsuits and official notices are received by attorneys who can respond quickly instead of sitting unnoticed.

What should an operating agreement say about a deadlock?

It should state how decisions are made when owners split evenly, and ideally include a deadlock sale or buyout procedure with a clear valuation method. Florida allows a properly initiated deadlock sale provision to take the place of a judicial dissolution order, so this language can decide whether a dispute ends in a negotiated exit or a court proceeding.

How long do I have to sue over a broken contract in Florida?

Five years for a claim founded on a written instrument and four years for oral or implied contracts. Rescission also has a four-year period, fraud runs four years from discovery with a twelve-year outer limit, and specific performance must be brought within one year. Because the periods differ, identifying the right claim early matters.

My partner is taking money out of the company. What can I do?

Depending on the facts, you may have claims for an accounting, breach of fiduciary duty, conversion, and recovery of funds. When assets are being moved or spent, a court can issue temporary injunctive relief to freeze the situation while the case proceeds.

Do I need a lawyer to review a commercial lease before signing?

It is strongly advisable. Commercial leases are largely governed by their own terms, so default provisions, personal guarantees, escalation clauses, and assignment limits can create obligations that are hard to undo after signing. The residential notice rules in Florida’s landlord-tenant statute, such as the three-day nonpayment notice and seven-day cure notices, do not simply carry over to a commercial lease.

Can a general counsel relationship help a family business?

Yes, and it is one of the most useful applications. Documenting ownership percentages, compensation, decision-making authority, and succession in writing reduces the chance that family disagreements become litigation, and it gives a court clear terms if they do.

Will you work with my existing attorney if I live out of state?

Yes. The firm regularly works with out-of-state clients and referring attorneys from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, handles Florida filings and court appearances, and keeps the referring lawyer informed throughout the matter.

Does every disagreement end up in court?

No. Many are resolved through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, and the firm has experience with each. Having counsel involved early often makes a settlement possible before positions harden and costs climb.

What is the difference between partition and a business buyout?

A buyout transfers one owner’s interest in a company to the others at an agreed or court-determined value. Partition applies to jointly owned real property and asks the court to divide the land or order it sold and the proceeds shared. Some disputes involve both, such as a company that owns the property its members are fighting over.

Serving Lantana Business Clients Across Palm Beach and Broward Counties

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team begins with Lantana and works outward through Palm Beach County, representing owners and investors in Lake Worth Beach, Hypoluxo, Manalapan, Boynton Beach, Greenacres, Atlantis, Palm Springs, and Lake Clarke Shores. Farther north in the county, the firm serves clients in West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Royal Palm Beach, Wellington, and Jupiter, and to the south in Delray Beach, Boca Raton, and Highland Beach. Throughout the county, the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit and the federal court sitting in West Palm Beach are where these disputes are heard.

In Broward County, the firm represents clients in Deerfield Beach, Pompano Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Plantation, and neighboring communities, with cases typically heard in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit and, where appropriate, federal court in Fort Lauderdale. The firm also works with owners who live in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut but hold businesses or real estate here, handling local proceedings so they do not need to travel for every hearing.

Speak With a Lantana General Counsel Attorney

If your company needs a lawyer who can handle contracts and compliance today and step into a dispute tomorrow, the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can help. As a Lantana business counsel attorney team with deep litigation experience, we answer the phone, return calls within 24 hours, and tailor our work to your goals and budget. Call to schedule a consultation and talk through what your business needs.