Hollywood Business Attorney

Hollywood business owners, investors, and co-owners often reach a point where a handshake deal, a loosely written operating agreement, or a partner’s behavior forces a decision: negotiate, buy out, sue, or walk away. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team handles business transactions and litigation, partnership disputes, real estate disputes, and outside general counsel work for clients across Broward County, Palm Beach County, and the rest of South Florida. If you are searching for a Hollywood business attorney, the choice you make early often determines whether a disagreement stays manageable or turns into a lawsuit that consumes the company.

Broward County business disputes tend to be document-driven. They turn on what the operating agreement says about management, buyouts, and deadlock, on what the parties’ emails and payment history show, and on how quickly someone moves when money or property is at risk. Getting the right instrument in front of a lawyer before a deadline runs, or before an asset disappears, is often more valuable than any argument made later.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for Hollywood Business Matters

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents business owners, investors, and families in some of South Florida’s hardest business and real estate disputes, serving Hollywood and the rest of Broward County, as well as Palm Beach County, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, and West Palm Beach.

Andrew M. Schwartz, the firm’s founder, was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989 and has spent 37 years in litigation. He earned his undergraduate degree from Emory University in 1986 and his law degree from the University of Miami in 1989. Sundeep Nath, Senior Counsel, is a Northwestern-trained litigator with years of experience in business and real estate cases in both state and federal courts. That federal experience matters in this market, because the Southern District of Florida sits in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach and covers both Broward and Palm Beach Counties.

The firm practices as a true legal team, meaning everyone working on a matter knows the file and can answer when a client calls. A strict 24 hour return call policy applies when an attorney is in court. The firm is experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as courtroom litigation, and it looks for the resolution that fits the client’s goals and budget rather than prolonging a case for its own sake.

The results reflect that approach. After a 5-day bench trial in Broward County Circuit Court, the firm obtained a 32-page final judgment awarding its client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. Winning an order that compels a seller to close is a different skill from collecting damages, and it depends on a trial record built carefully from the first filing.

Business Disputes a Hollywood Business Lawyer Handles

• Business Divorce: Co-owners who can no longer work together need a structured exit, whether by negotiated buyout, sale, wind-down, or court-ordered dissolution. Valuation is usually the hardest fight.
• LLC and Shareholder Disputes: Breaches of operating and shareholder agreements, minority owners shut out of decisions, and managers acting in their own interest. Florida’s LLC and corporation statutes give courts specific remedies, including appointing a receiver or ordering a buyout.
• Missing Funds and Accounting Claims: Unpaid distributions, diverted company money, commingled accounts, and disputed capital contributions. Remedies include an accounting, breach of fiduciary duty claims, and recovery of the funds.
• Complex Contract Litigation: Purchase agreements, commercial leases, loan documents, construction contracts, and operating agreements, where the exact wording and the parties’ course of dealing decide the outcome.
• Injunctions and Emergency Relief: Temporary and permanent injunctions to stop assets from being moved, spent, or encumbered while a case is pending.
• Partition and Title Disputes: Co-owners of real estate who cannot agree, including former partners, heirs, and unmarried couples, plus quiet title actions to clear competing ownership claims.
• Family Business Conflicts: Siblings, parents and children, or in-laws who share ownership and disagree about control, pay, or succession. These cases need discretion alongside firm protection of the client’s financial position.
• Real Estate Transactions and Landlord-Tenant Matters: Failed closings, purchase and sale disputes, and commercial or residential landlord and tenant conflicts.

What to Do First When a Business Relationship Breaks Down

Start by pulling together the governing documents: the operating agreement or shareholder agreement, articles of organization or incorporation, any buy-sell agreement, loan and lease documents, and the financial records you can lawfully access. Many agreements contain deadlock sale provisions, buyout formulas, or mandatory mediation and arbitration clauses. Under Florida’s LLC statute, a deadlock sale provision that is initiated before a court finds deadlock grounds can take the place of a judicial dissolution order, so what the document says, and when someone invokes it, can change the entire case.

Next, watch the clocks. In Florida, an action on a written contract generally must be brought within five years, while an oral or implied contract claim has four. Fraud claims run four years from discovery, subject to an outer limit of 12 years, and rescission actions have four years. A suit seeking specific performance carries a one-year period, which is much shorter than most people expect and is the reason a buyer who wants a property rather than damages cannot wait. Professional malpractice claims, including those against accountants or other advisors, carry two years from when the claim was or should have been discovered.

If you believe money or assets are being moved, say so to a lawyer immediately. Courts can issue injunctions and, in dissolution proceedings, appoint a receiver or custodian, but the court must hold a hearing with notice before doing so. Preserve evidence in its original form, avoid confronting the other owner in writing in ways that create new problems, and do not sign anything presented as a routine amendment.

On the forum question, circuit court hears disputes above the county court ceiling, and county court handles claims in the middle range. Hollywood sits in Broward County, which is in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, and civil matters are heard at the South Regional Courthouse in Hollywood as well as at the Central Judicial Complex in Fort Lauderdale. Broward also has a complex business division that handles dissolution of certain business entities and large business and construction litigation, and a case may be filed directly into it only under the circuit’s administrative order. Cases with the right parties and issues can also proceed in the federal court in Fort Lauderdale.

The most common mistake is waiting. Owners hope the problem resolves itself, keep funding the company, and let months pass while the other side restructures assets, changes banking access, or builds a competing business. Early advice costs less than late litigation.

Judicial Dissolution, Buyouts, and Partition in Florida

When owners cannot continue together, Florida law provides defined routes out. For an LLC, a member or manager can seek judicial dissolution on grounds that include conducting affairs unlawfully, it not being reasonably practicable to operate under the operating agreement, controlling members acting or expected to act illegally or fraudulently, misappropriation or waste of assets, and deadlock that threatens irreparable injury. The court may appoint a receiver or custodian or order a purchase of the petitioning member’s interest instead of dissolving the company.

For a corporation, a shareholder can petition for dissolution on grounds such as abandonment of the business without liquidating. Once such a proceeding begins, the corporation must notify the other shareholders within 30 days that they may avoid dissolution by electing to purchase the petitioner’s shares at fair value. If the parties agree on value and terms within 60 days after the first election, the court enters an order on those terms, and an election to purchase is irrevocable unless the court finds it equitable to modify it. In these proceedings the court can also issue injunctions and appoint a receiver to preserve assets.

Real estate co-ownership has its own mechanism. Partition actions are brought in circuit court. The court may divide the land among owners, or if division would prejudice them, order a sale and split the proceeds in proportion to ownership. Where the property is inherited and meets the statutory definition of heirs property, a separate act governs, with additional protections for relatives who want to keep the land. Quiet title actions let an owner clear a cloud on title, and the plaintiff generally must trace title back at least seven years.

Questions Hollywood Business Owners Ask

What does a business attorney do for a Hollywood company?

The work falls into two categories: transactional and dispute-related. On the transactional side, a lawyer drafts and reviews agreements and advises on compliance and operations. On the dispute side, the lawyer represents owners in partnership conflicts, contract fights, and real estate disputes, in negotiation, mediation, arbitration, or court.

Can I force a partner out of my Florida LLC?

It depends on the operating agreement and the partner’s conduct. Many agreements contain buyout, expulsion, or dissociation provisions. Where they do not, the statute allows judicial dissolution on specified grounds, and a court may order a buyout rather than dissolution.

What if my business partner is taking company money?

You may have claims for breach of fiduciary duty, an accounting, conversion, and recovery of funds. If assets are being moved, a court can issue injunctive relief and, in a dissolution case, appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing.

How long do I have to sue for breach of contract in Florida?

A claim on a written contract generally has a five-year limit, and an oral or implied contract claim has four years. The 2023 negligence change did not alter the written-contract period.

Is the deadline different if I want the court to force a sale to close?

Yes. A specific performance action has a one-year period, much shorter than the contract damages deadline. A buyer who wants the property should act quickly rather than relying on the longer period.

What is a deadlock, and can a court break it?

A deadlock exists when managers or members are evenly split and cannot move the company forward. A court can dissolve the LLC if it finds deadlock with threatened or actual irreparable injury, but it may instead order a buyout. If the operating agreement has a deadlock sale provision that is properly initiated first, that provision can control.

Do I have to go to court to resolve a business dispute?

No. Many disputes resolve through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, and some agreements require it. The firm’s attorneys handle alternative dispute resolution as well as trials, and choose the path most likely to achieve the client’s goals efficiently.

Which court handles a business dispute arising in Hollywood?

Broward County disputes are heard in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, depending on the amount in controversy. Larger cases go to circuit court, which has a complex business division for certain matters. Federal court in Fort Lauderdale is an option when federal jurisdiction exists.

Can I handle a co-owned property dispute without a lawsuit?

Often, yes. Co-owners can negotiate a buyout, agree to sell, or sign a use agreement. If talks fail, a partition action lets the court order division or sale. A written resolution is generally less costly than a contested partition.

Is it worth hiring a lawyer before a dispute exists?

Often it is. A general counsel relationship, including registered agent service, helps with contracts, compliance, and operational questions, and a litigator reviewing agreements before conflict arises can catch the clauses that cause the worst fights, such as vague buyout terms or missing deadlock provisions.

I live in New York or New Jersey but own a Broward business. Can you help?

Yes. The firm regularly represents clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with business or real estate interests in South Florida. The firm handles the local court appearances so out of state clients do not have to travel for every hearing.

Do you work with other attorneys on referrals?

Yes. A significant part of the practice comes from other lawyers, including out of state counsel whose clients have Florida disputes. The firm communicates with referring counsel throughout the matter and respects the existing client relationship.

Serving Business Clients Across Hollywood and Broward County

The firm represents business owners and co-owners in Hollywood and throughout Broward County, including Hallandale Beach, Dania Beach, Pembroke Pines, Miramar, Davie, Fort Lauderdale, Plantation, Sunrise, Weston, Cooper City, Pembroke Park, Coral Springs, Pompano Beach, and Deerfield Beach. Our work also extends north into Palm Beach County, where we serve clients in Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, and West Palm Beach.

Whether the dispute involves a restaurant partnership, a real estate investment, a family-owned company, or a professional practice with multiple owners, the same principles apply: read the agreements, identify the deadlines, and act before assets or evidence move. Clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with South Florida interests are served the same way, with local court appearances handled by the firm.

Speak With a Hollywood Business Litigation Attorney

If a partner, co-owner, or counterparty has put your company, investment, or property at risk, a conversation with a Hollywood business litigation attorney at the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can clarify your options before a deadline passes. Call the firm to discuss the dispute, the documents you have, and the outcome you want. Attorneys will tell you candidly whether negotiation, mediation, or a court filing makes sense, and what each is likely to cost.