Davie Breach of Fiduciary Duty Attorney

Davie sits in Broward County, which means a fiduciary dispute that cannot be settled lands in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, where larger business disputes can be routed to a dedicated complex business division. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team handles business and real estate litigation for owners, investors, and families in Broward County and Palm Beach County, and a Davie breach of fiduciary duty attorney at the firm spends much of the time on one question: did someone entrusted with control over company money, property, or decisions put their own interest ahead of the people they owed loyalty to?

These claims tend to surface in a few recognizable ways. A manager stops sharing financial statements. Distributions that were once routine dry up while one owner’s lifestyle improves. A co-owner quietly steers a contract, a lease, or a property sale toward a company they secretly control. By the time the other owner calls a lawyer, the paper trail is usually still recoverable, but the assets are often moving. Speed matters as much as legal theory.

The claim itself is built on a simple structure: a relationship in which one party owed duties of loyalty and care to another, a breach of those duties, and damage that flowed from the breach. In a closely held company, managers, managing members, officers, directors, and sometimes controlling owners can all fall within that structure, depending on the entity type and what the governing documents say.

How Fiduciary Duty Claims Unfold Among Co-Owners

Most of these cases begin before anyone files anything. The first phase is fact gathering: collecting the operating agreement or shareholder agreement, bank statements, tax returns, company ledgers, and correspondence that shows who authorized what. Business owners often assume they have no access to company books. In practice, members and shareholders usually have inspection rights, and demanding records in writing is frequently the first formal step, both to learn what happened and to create a clear record if the refusal becomes part of the case.

Pleadings come next. A complaint in these disputes often combines several theories: breach of fiduciary duty, a demand for an accounting, conversion or misappropriation of funds, and breach of the operating or shareholder agreement. Pleading them together matters because the agreement may limit or modify certain duties, while other claims depend on conduct the agreement could never excuse. Where assets are at risk, a request for emergency injunctive relief can be filed alongside the complaint so a court can freeze transfers or preserve records while the case proceeds.

Discovery then does the heavy lifting. Forensic review of accounts, depositions of the people who handled the money, and third-party subpoenas to banks and vendors usually decide whether the claim is proven. Many cases settle after the numbers are on the table, often at mediation. Those that do not move toward a bench or jury trial. The firm’s attorneys are experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as courtroom litigation, and the right forum often depends on whether the operating agreement contains an arbitration clause.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for Fiduciary Duty Disputes

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents business owners, investors, and families in Broward County, Palm Beach County, and throughout South Florida, including Davie, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, and West Palm Beach. Clients also come from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, where the other owner or the property is here in South Florida.

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 state and federal courts. That pairing matters in fiduciary disputes, which often begin in state court but can involve federal forums when the parties or claims cross state lines.

The firm practices as a true legal team, so everyone working on a file knows it and can answer when a client calls, and it keeps a strict 24 hour return call policy. On the results side, the firm recently secured a 32-page final judgment after a five-day bench trial in Broward County Circuit Court awarding its client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. That was a different claim than fiduciary breach, but it reflects the same skills these cases demand: building a detailed record, trying the case to a judge, and obtaining relief that enforces what the parties actually agreed to. The firm also looks for the resolution that serves the client’s goals and budget rather than prolonging a case for its own sake.

Situations That Give Rise to Fiduciary Duty Claims

• Diverted Company Funds: A manager or partner moves money into personal accounts, pays personal expenses through the company, or routes revenue to a side entity. These cases often pair a fiduciary duty claim with an accounting and recovery of the funds.
• Self-Dealing Transactions: A controlling owner causes the company to lease property from, buy supplies from, or sell assets to an entity they own, at terms that favor themselves. The question is whether the deal was fair and properly disclosed.
• Freeze-Outs of Minority Owners: Majority members or shareholders cut a minority owner out of decisions, information, and distributions while continuing to draw salary or benefits themselves.
• Usurped Business Opportunities: A partner takes a deal, client, or property that belonged to the company and keeps it for personal benefit, often while still holding a management role.
• Refusal to Provide Books and Records: A manager stonewalls requests for financial statements, tax filings, and bank records. The refusal is often both a claim of its own and a warning sign of larger problems.
• Family Business Betrayals: Siblings, parents, and in-laws who share ownership face the same duties as unrelated partners, and these cases carry the added strain of family relationships alongside the financial claims.
• Wasting or Misappropriating Assets: Mismanagement that dissipates company property or cash can support not only damages but, in an LLC, judicial dissolution grounds tied to misappropriation or waste of assets.
• Competing While Still Inside the Company: An owner or officer sets up a rival business, solicits employees or customers, and uses company information to do it before leaving.

What to Do Right Now if You Suspect a Partner Is Betraying You

Start by securing what you are legally entitled to see. Gather your operating agreement, shareholder agreement, or partnership agreement, along with any amendments, and collect the financial records you already have: tax returns, K-1s, bank statements, loan documents, and email that touches money or major decisions. Do not take files or access accounts you are not authorized to use; that can hand the other side a counterclaim. Instead, make a written request for books and records, which both tests whether the other party will cooperate and builds your record.

Watch the calendar. Florida sets different limitation periods depending on how a claim is framed. An action founded on a written instrument has five years, a contract claim not based on a writing has four years, and fraud carries a four-year period measured from discovery and capped at twelve years. Because a fiduciary dispute usually includes several of these theories at once, waiting to see how things develop can quietly shorten your options. A short consultation early on is the safest way to pin down which clocks apply to your facts.

If money or property is actively disappearing, the question is whether to seek emergency relief. Courts can enter temporary and permanent injunctions to stop assets from being moved or spent while a case is pending, and in an LLC or corporate dissolution proceeding the court may also appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing. Disputes among Davie-area owners are generally filed in the Circuit Court of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit in and for Broward County, which sits at the Central Judicial Complex in Fort Lauderdale and at regional courthouses around the county. The Seventeenth Circuit also has complex business divisions for larger disputes, including certain entity dissolutions and large business litigation, and a case can be filed directly into one under the circuit’s administrative order. Some disputes with out-of-state parties belong in the Southern District of Florida, which holds court in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.

The most common mistakes are predictable. Owners confront the other side before they have documented anything, which gives a dishonest partner time to move funds. They sign a “settlement” or release offered under pressure without seeing the financials. Or they keep funding the company while the problem grows. Keep communications factual, preserve everything, and talk to counsel before accusing anyone.

Fiduciary Duty, Business Divorce, and Dissolution

A fiduciary breach rarely stands alone. Often the real objective is to get out of the business, or to get the wrongdoer out. Florida’s LLC statute allows a court to dissolve a company on a member or manager’s petition on several grounds, including that the people in control are acting or reasonably expected to act illegally or fraudulently, that assets are being misappropriated or wasted, or that managers or members are deadlocked and irreparable injury is threatened. In that kind of proceeding the court may appoint a receiver or custodian, or order a purchase of the petitioning member’s interest instead of dissolving the company.

For corporations, the shareholder remedies work similarly. A court can dissolve the corporation or order another remedy, may issue injunctions, appoint a receiver, and take steps to preserve assets during the case. The corporation or the other shareholders can elect to purchase the petitioner’s shares at fair value, and if the parties agree on value and terms within 60 days after the first election is filed, the court enters an order directing the purchase on those terms. That election is irrevocable unless the court finds it equitable to modify it, which makes early strategy on valuation important. If the governing agreement has its own deadlock sale mechanism, that provision can change which path the case takes.

Questions About Fiduciary Duty Claims in Davie

What exactly is a fiduciary duty between business partners?

It is a legal obligation to act with loyalty and care toward the company and its owners. Someone who controls company money or decisions cannot use that position to benefit themselves at the expense of the people relying on them.

Who can be sued for breach of fiduciary duty?

Managers, managing members, officers, directors, general partners, and in some circumstances controlling owners can all face these claims. Who owes what depends on the type of entity and the terms of its governing documents.

Does the operating agreement affect my claim?

Yes. An agreement can define, narrow, or add to certain duties, and it may require arbitration or mediation first. It cannot be used to excuse fraud or intentional misconduct, so the agreement shapes the claim rather than ending it.

What is the deadline to file?

It depends on how the claim is framed. Actions founded on a written instrument have five years, contract claims without a writing have four, and fraud runs four years from discovery with a twelve-year cap. Because several may apply, get your facts reviewed promptly.

What can I recover?

Possible remedies include money damages, an accounting of company funds, recovery of diverted money, and injunctive relief. In dissolution cases, the court may also order a buyout of your interest or appoint a receiver or custodian.

Can I get an emergency order if money is being moved?

Often, yes. Courts can issue temporary injunctions to stop assets from being transferred or spent while the case is pending. The request must be supported by evidence that the harm is real and cannot wait for a final judgment.

Do I need a lawyer to see the company’s books?

Not always, but a written demand drafted by counsel carries weight and creates a clear record if access is refused. Refusal to provide records can itself become part of your claim.

Is it worth pursuing if the amount is modest?

That depends on the money, the evidence, and your goals. The size of a claim matters when deciding whether to sue in county court or circuit court, and many disputes are resolved through negotiation or mediation before reaching a judge.

What if my business partner is also a family member?

The legal duties are the same, but strategy changes. Early resolution, buyouts, and structured separations are often more attractive, and the firm handles these cases with discretion while still protecting your financial interests.

I live in New York or New Jersey. Can I pursue this without moving to Florida?

Yes. The firm regularly represents out-of-state owners with interests in South Florida, handles the local court appearances, and schedules conference calls so you can stay informed without traveling for every hearing.

Will my case go to trial?

Possibly, but many do not. Negotiation, mediation, and arbitration resolve a large share of business disputes, and the choice usually turns on what the numbers show after records are exchanged and what outcome best fits your goals.

How does a fiduciary duty claim relate to a business divorce?

Often they are two sides of the same dispute. The misconduct supports damages and sometimes grounds for dissolution, while the separation itself can be resolved by a negotiated buyout, a wind-down, or a court-ordered remedy.

Serving Fiduciary Duty Clients Across Davie and South Florida

For owners in Davie, the firm’s work starts in Broward County and extends outward. We represent clients from Davie and the neighboring communities of Plantation, Sunrise, Cooper City, Southwest Ranches, Weston, Pembroke Pines, and Hollywood, as well as Fort Lauderdale, Lauderhill, Coral Springs, Parkland, Deerfield Beach, and Pompano Beach across Broward County. Our clients also include owners in Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, West Palm Beach, and Palm Beach Gardens in Palm Beach County, along with investors from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut whose partners, companies, or property are in South Florida. Whether the dispute involves a family company in Davie, a development partnership in Fort Lauderdale, or an LLC with members split between states, the firm brings the same attention to the facts and the money.

Speak With a Davie Breach of Fiduciary Duty Lawyer

If a partner, manager, or co-owner has misused your trust, the right time to act is while the records are intact and the options are still open. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team offers a Davie breach of fiduciary duty lawyer’s perspective grounded in decades of business litigation experience across Broward and Palm Beach Counties. Call today to discuss what happened, what you can recover, and which path makes sense for you and your business.