Sunrise Breach of Fiduciary Duty Attorney

A fiduciary duty claim in Broward County usually begins with a quiet discovery: the numbers in the company’s books do not match what a partner said, or a distribution that should have arrived never did, or a co-owner signed something without telling anyone. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents business owners, investors, and families in disputes of this kind, and a Sunrise breach of fiduciary duty attorney from our firm handles these cases for clients in Sunrise, across Broward County, and throughout Palm Beach County and the rest of South Florida.

What separates a fiduciary claim from an ordinary contract dispute is the nature of the relationship itself. A contract claim asks whether someone failed to do what they promised. A fiduciary claim asks whether someone who held a position of trust, such as a manager, managing member, majority shareholder, general partner, or officer, put their own interests ahead of the company and the people who relied on them. The duty exists even where no written agreement spells it out, which is why these cases often reach conduct that the operating agreement never anticipated: self-dealing contracts with a manager’s side business, diverted opportunities, quiet transfers of company funds, or decisions made to squeeze out a minority owner.

Most Sunrise-area disputes of this kind end up in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, which sits in and for Broward County. Because the claims frequently involve missing money, frozen decision-making, or assets that could be moved before a judgment, the first weeks of a case often matter as much as the trial. Our work covers both the underlying claim and the emergency relief that keeps the company’s property in place while the case proceeds.

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

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team is a business litigation and real estate litigation firm serving Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and communities throughout Broward County and Palm Beach County, including Sunrise. Schwartz, has spent 37 years in litigation. He was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989, earned his undergraduate degree from Emory University in 1986 and his law degree from the University of Miami in 1989, and has built his career around complex contract disputes, business divorces, and conflicts between partners, LLC members, and shareholders. Fiduciary breaches sit at the center of that work, because nearly every serious partner or member dispute eventually asks whether someone in control abused it.

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. That federal experience is useful in South Florida, where the Southern District of Florida holds court in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach and some business disputes belong there. The firm practices as a true legal team, so everyone working on a matter knows the file, and clients are promised a return call within 24 hours when an attorney is in court or otherwise unavailable. The attorneys are experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as courtroom litigation, and the firm looks for the resolution that fits a client’s goals and budget rather than prolonging a case for its own sake.

Our results reflect that trial focus. After a five-day bench trial, a Broward County circuit court issued a 32-page final judgment awarding our client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. Fiduciary cases demand the same preparation: close reading of governing documents, a careful reconstruction of the parties’ course of dealing, and a financial record built well enough to survive cross-examination.

Situations That Give Rise to Fiduciary Duty Claims

• Managers or Controlling Members Diverting Company Funds: Unexplained transfers, personal expenses run through the company, commingled accounts, and distributions paid to one owner but not another are among the most common triggers. Remedies can include an accounting, recovery of the money, and emergency relief to prevent further movement of assets.
• Self-Dealing and Conflicted Transactions: A manager who steers company contracts to a business they secretly own, sets their own compensation without approval, or sells company property to a related party has placed personal gain against the company’s interest.
• Freeze-Outs of Minority Owners: Majority owners sometimes cut off a minority member’s information, distributions, or voice in management. These claims often run alongside disputes over buyouts and valuation.
• Usurped Business Opportunities: A partner who learns of a deal through the company and pursues it personally, or who builds a competing venture while still holding a management role, may owe the company the profits from it.
• Family Business Betrayals: Siblings, parents and children, and in-laws who share ownership face the same duties as unrelated partners. These cases require discretion, since the relationships outlast the lawsuit in ways ordinary commercial cases do not.
• Misuse of Authority Over Real Estate Holdings: Where a co-owner or manager of a property-holding entity encumbers, sells, or leases property without proper authority, the dispute may combine fiduciary claims with title, quiet title, or partition issues.
• Failure to Keep Books or Disclose Information: A manager who cannot or will not account for company money, or who withholds financial records from members, may face claims even before any theft is proven.
• Deadlock Used as a Weapon: Where an owner manufactures or exploits a management impasse to force a favorable exit, the conduct can support both fiduciary claims and a request to dissolve the company.

Acting Quickly When You Suspect a Partner Is Breaching Their Duty

The first thing to do is secure evidence before anyone realizes you are looking. Gather the operating agreement or shareholder agreement, the company’s tax returns, bank and credit card statements you are entitled to see, payroll and distribution records, and any emails or texts that show how decisions were made. If you hold an ownership interest, you generally have information rights, and a written request for records, kept on file, often becomes useful evidence whether the response is cooperation or stonewalling. Avoid taking records you have no right to access or logging into accounts you were never authorized to use, since that can hand the other side a counterclaim.

Deadlines matter more than most owners expect. In Florida, an action founded on a written instrument has a five-year limitations period, a contract claim not founded on a written instrument has four years, and a fraud claim has four years from discovery, capped at twelve years. Breach of fiduciary duty is its own cause of action and the applicable period depends on how the claim is framed and when it accrued, so waiting to see whether the problem resolves itself is a risk. Raising the issue early also preserves the strongest equitable remedies, which courts are slower to grant when an owner sat on knowledge for years.

If money or property is actively moving, the question becomes whether to seek emergency relief. Florida courts can enter temporary and permanent injunctions, and in dissolution proceedings can appoint a receiver or custodian after notice and a hearing. Our firm is experienced in obtaining early and emergency injunctive relief to protect company assets and real property while a dispute is pending. For Sunrise clients, a Broward County case is filed in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, whose courthouses include the Central Judicial Complex in Fort Lauderdale and the West Regional Courthouse in Plantation. Circuit court hears claims above the county court ceiling, and Broward also maintains a complex business division that handles dissolution of certain business entities and large business litigation. Cases that qualify can be directed there through the court’s filing procedure.

Finally, resist the urge to confront the partner or retaliate on your own. Cutting off the other owner’s access, changing bank signatories without authority, or withholding company funds in response can undermine a strong claim and create exposure of your own. A conversation with counsel before you act usually costs far less than repairing a misstep.

How Fiduciary Claims Connect to Dissolution, Buyouts, and Court-Ordered Remedies

A fiduciary breach is rarely the only issue in the case. Often the real question is how the owners separate, and the court has several tools. Under Florida’s LLC statute, a member or manager can petition a circuit court for dissolution on grounds that include: the company’s affairs being conducted unlawfully; it being not reasonably practicable to carry on the business under the articles and operating agreement; controlling managers or members acting illegally or fraudulently; assets being misappropriated or wasted to the company’s injury; or a management deadlock that threatens irreparable injury. The court may also order a buyout of the petitioning member’s interest instead of dissolving the company, and may appoint a receiver or custodian once a hearing has been held.

Corporations follow a parallel structure. A shareholder may seek judicial dissolution on statutory grounds, and the corporation or other shareholders can elect to purchase the petitioner’s shares at fair value. If the parties agree on value and terms within 60 days after the first election is filed, the court enters an order on those terms. Within 30 days after a shareholder commences such a proceeding, the corporation must notify the other shareholders that they can avoid dissolution by electing to buy. Those elections are irrevocable unless the court finds it equitable to modify them. Where the governing agreement contains its own deadlock sale mechanism, that mechanism can control if it is properly triggered.

These procedural choices shape strategy. A client who wants the business to survive may pursue a buyout and an accounting. A client who has lost trust entirely may prefer dissolution or a structured wind-down. In many cases, the pressure created by a well-supported fiduciary claim and the possibility of a receiver is what brings the other side to a negotiated separation or mediation. The firm pursues whichever route best serves the client’s goals and keeps the financial cost proportionate to what is actually at stake.

Common Questions About Breach of Fiduciary Duty in Florida Business Disputes

What exactly is a fiduciary duty in a business?

It is a legal obligation to act with loyalty and care toward the company and, in many settings, toward its other owners. Managers, managing members, officers, directors, general partners, and sometimes controlling owners are held to this standard. It generally forbids self-dealing, requires honest dealing and disclosure, and prohibits using the position for personal gain at the company’s expense.

How is a fiduciary claim different from a breach of contract claim?

A contract claim depends on the specific promises in an agreement. A fiduciary claim rests on the trust relationship itself, so it can reach conduct the agreement never mentions. The two are frequently pleaded together, since the same facts often violate the operating agreement and the duty of loyalty.

Do minority owners have rights if the majority is running the company badly?

Yes. Minority members and shareholders can pursue claims when controlling owners misuse their power, freeze them out, withhold information, or divert value. Depending on the entity type and the facts, remedies may include an accounting, damages, a court-ordered buyout, or dissolution.

What can I recover in a breach of fiduciary duty case?

Possible remedies include repayment of diverted funds, disgorgement of profits the fiduciary earned through the breach, damages for harm to the company or to you, an accounting, injunctive relief, and in some situations removal of the manager or appointment of a receiver. What is realistically available depends on the proof and on how the claim is structured.

Can I sue if I am not sure how much money is missing?

Often yes. A claim for an accounting exists precisely because the true numbers are in the other party’s hands. You need enough facts to show a reasonable basis for the claim, such as unexplained transfers or refused access to records, but you do not need a finished forensic analysis before you start.

How long do I have to file?

The limitations period depends on how the claim is framed. Claims founded on a written instrument carry five years, claims not founded on a written instrument carry four, and fraud carries four years from discovery with a twelve-year outer limit. Because the right period can turn on the facts, it is wise to have the dates reviewed promptly rather than assume you have time.

Can a court stop a partner from moving money while the case is pending?

Yes. Florida courts can issue temporary injunctions to preserve assets, and in dissolution proceedings can appoint a receiver or custodian after notice and a hearing. These remedies require a factual showing, so documents supporting the urgency are important.

My business partner is also a family member. Does that change anything?

The legal duties are the same, but the handling is different. Family disputes involve relationships that will continue after the case ends, so we tend to look carefully at negotiated outcomes, confidentiality, and the tone of correspondence, while still protecting the client’s financial position at every step.

I live in New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut. Can I bring a claim over a Sunrise business without traveling here constantly?

Yes. We regularly represent clients from those states who have business or real estate interests in South Florida. We handle the local court appearances and proceedings and keep you informed through scheduled calls at times that work for you.

How long does a fiduciary dispute usually take to resolve?

It varies widely. Cases with a clear paper trail and an emergency component sometimes resolve in months through injunction practice and negotiation, while contested accounting and valuation disputes can take considerably longer, particularly if tried to a judge. Mediation or arbitration may shorten the timeline when the operating agreement or the parties’ goals support it.

Will I need to prove the other owner intended to cheat me?

Not always. Some fiduciary breaches involve intentional misconduct, while others involve conflicts of interest or failures of care that harmed the company regardless of motive. Intent can affect which remedies are available, but proving a conflicted transaction or an unauthorized taking does not always require proving a scheme.

Do other lawyers refer these cases to your firm?

Yes. A significant part of our practice comes from referrals by other attorneys, including out of state lawyers whose clients have Florida disputes and Florida lawyers who do not handle business litigation. We keep referring counsel informed and respect their relationship with the client.

Serving Fiduciary Duty and Partnership Dispute Clients Across Sunrise and South Florida

Our work for Sunrise clients begins in Broward County and extends outward. We represent owners in Sunrise itself and in neighboring Plantation, Weston, Davie, Tamarac, Lauderhill, and Coral Springs, as well as Fort Lauderdale, Pembroke Pines, Hollywood, Deerfield Beach, Pompano Beach, Coconut Creek, and Parkland. Because Broward cases are heard in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit and federal matters in the Southern District of Florida, we are comfortable in the courts that decide these disputes.

The firm also serves clients across Palm Beach County, including Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, West Palm Beach, Wellington, Palm Beach Gardens, and Jupiter, where business owners and investors often hold interests that stretch across both counties. And we represent clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who own companies, investment property, or a share of real estate in South Florida and need a local litigator who can manage the proceedings on the ground. Whether the dispute involves a Sunrise storefront, a Plantation professional practice, or property held through an entity in Palm Beach County, the same questions of duty, loyalty, and accountability apply.

Talk With a Sunrise Breach of Fiduciary Duty Lawyer Today

When a partner, manager, or co-owner has misused the trust placed in them, the choices you make early often shape the whole case. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can review your agreements, look at the financial record, and explain what claims and remedies realistically fit your situation, including whether emergency relief is warranted. If you are looking for a Sunrise breach of fiduciary duty lawyer who will give you straight advice about cost, strategy, and what resolution is achievable, call our team to schedule a consultation.