Sunrise Quiet Title Attorney

A quiet title case over land near Sunrise is filed in the circuit court for the county where the property sits, and Florida allows the suit to be brought in any county where any part of the parcel lies. For a property in Sunrise, that means Broward County and the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, where title disputes often land in front of judges who also handle business and real estate cases. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team handles real estate litigation, partition actions, and title disputes for owners, investors, and families in Sunrise, the rest of Broward County, and Palm Beach County, and a Sunrise quiet title attorney at the firm can tell you quickly whether a cloud on your title is something a lawsuit can remove.

A quiet title action asks the court to decide who owns a piece of real estate and to wipe out competing claims. It is the tool owners reach for when a recorded deed looks forged, when a former business partner still appears on title, when heirs surface decades after a relative’s death, when a lien or easement was recorded in error, or when a seller cannot deliver clean title and a closing falls apart. Under Florida’s quiet title statute, a person claiming legal or equitable title may sue, and the court can cancel a conveyance or other document and remove the cloud when someone who is not the rightful owner holds it or asserts a claim.

The practical question most readers have is simple: is my title problem serious enough for a lawsuit, and what will it take to fix it? Some defects can be cured with a corrective deed or a release signed by a cooperative party. Others involve a defendant who cannot be found, will not sign, or insists the property is theirs. Those are the cases that end up in court, and they reward careful preparation of the chain of title before anything is filed.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for Title and Ownership Disputes

The Andrew M. Andrew M. Schwartz, the firm’s founder, has spent 37 years in litigation and has practiced in Florida since being admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989. He earned his undergraduate degree at Emory University in 1986 and his law degree at the University of Miami in 1989. Senior Counsel Sundeep Nath, a Northwestern-trained litigator, brings years of business and real estate experience in state and federal courts. The firm practices as a true legal team, so everyone working on your file knows it, and a strict 24 hour return call policy applies when the attorneys are in court.

Title disputes rarely arise in isolation. They grow out of partnership breakups, inherited property, failed closings, and contract fights, which is the work this firm does every day. The firm handles partition actions, quiet title actions, purchase and sale contract disputes, and requests for temporary and permanent injunctions when property is at risk of being sold, encumbered, or transferred while a case is pending. After a five-day bench trial in Broward County Circuit Court, the firm’s client received a 32-page final judgment awarding specific performance of a commercial real estate contract, a result that reflects the trial preparation these ownership disputes demand.

The firm also represents clients who live in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut but own land or a share of an investment property in South Florida. We handle the local filings and court appearances and keep you informed throughout. Our attorneys are experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as courtroom litigation, and we look for the resolution that serves your goals and budget, which in a title case is sometimes a negotiated release rather than a trial.

Situations That Lead to Quiet Title and Related Ownership Claims

• Forged or Fraudulent Deeds: A deed signed by someone who was not the owner, or procured through deception, leaves a cloud that blocks any sale or refinance. Florida’s statute allows a quiet title action based on a fraudulent attempted conveyance, with summary procedure and calendar priority.
• Former Partners Still on Title: When a business dissolves or one member is bought out, the property deed sometimes never changes. A quiet title action can clear the departed partner’s name when they refuse to sign a release.
• Inherited Property and Missing Heirs: Siblings, cousins, or unknown relatives may hold fractional interests that were never documented. Those cases can call for quiet title, partition, or both, and Florida’s heirs property act applies to qualifying inherited land.
• Adverse Possession Claims: Someone who has occupied land for seven years may assert ownership, either under color of title with a recorded instrument or without color of title by meeting the statute’s possession and tax requirements. Owners must defend against these claims, and occupants must prove them.
• Competing Chains of Title: Two parties may claim the same land through the same source, such as a developer, a trust, or a prior owner. The court determines which claim controls.
• Erroneous Liens, Easements, and Recorded Instruments: Mortgages never released, easements that should have expired, and mistakenly recorded documents can all cloud title and stall a closing.
• Failed Closings and Contract Disputes: A buyer or seller who cannot obtain marketable title may need a court to resolve ownership before the contract can be enforced or unwound.
• Co-Ownership Breakdowns: When unmarried couples, investors, or relatives disagree about a shared property, the dispute may begin as a title question and end as a partition case.

What to Do Now If Your Title Is Clouded

Start by gathering the paper trail: your deed, closing statements, title insurance policy, surveys, mortgage documents, any correspondence with the other claimant, and the recorded instrument you believe is the problem. A title search from a title company or attorney will show what is actually recorded in the county’s official records, and the Broward County Clerk or the Palm Beach County Clerk maintains those records depending on where the land lies. Do not sign a quitclaim deed, release, or settlement offered by the other side until you understand what it does to your ownership.

Check your title insurance policy early. If you bought the property with an owner’s policy, a covered defect may obligate the insurer to defend the claim, and late notice can complicate coverage. If the dispute involves a former partner or a business entity, review the operating agreement or shareholder agreement for buyout or transfer provisions, because the contract may control who holds what.

Timing matters in several ways. Florida bars most suits to recover real property unless the plaintiff or a predecessor was in possession within seven years before filing, which is why an adverse possessor’s clock is so significant. Related contract claims carry their own deadlines: five years on a written contract, four years on an oral one or a fraud claim measured from discovery, and only one year for a specific performance action. If a closing collapsed and you want the court to force the sale, that one-year period is easy to miss.

If someone is threatening to sell, mortgage, or transfer the property while the dispute is open, ask about emergency relief right away. A court can issue a temporary injunction to preserve the status quo, and in a quiet title case a recorded notice of lis pendens can warn buyers and lenders that the ownership is being litigated. When filing, your attorney will deraign title, meaning trace ownership back at least seven years unless the court orders otherwise, and describe the land in the complaint with enough precision to identify it.

For a Sunrise property, the case is filed in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, which sits in and for Broward County. Large or complex disputes, including some involving the dissolution of business entities, can be directed to the circuit’s complex business division through a special filing procedure. Cases with an amount in controversy above the county court limit belong in circuit court, and actions to determine title to land are matters for the circuit court’s equitable jurisdiction. If a federal question or diversity of citizenship is present, the Southern District of Florida also holds court in Fort Lauderdale.

Quiet Title Compared With Partition, Adverse Possession, and Judicial Dissolution

People often search for quiet title when the real problem is something else. If everyone agrees who owns the property but cannot agree what to do with it, the right tool is partition. Under Florida’s partition chapter, the court either divides the land among the owners or, when division would prejudice them, orders it sold at public auction and splits the proceeds in proportion to each owner’s share. The court appoints three commissioners to evaluate whether division is practical. Where inherited family land is involved, the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act can change the process, requiring the court to apply special protections before ordering a sale when the property qualifies as heirs property, such as when twenty percent or more of the interests are held by relatives.

When the dispute is about whether someone has earned ownership by occupying land, adverse possession is the issue. Without color of title, a claimant must show seven years of actual, continuous possession under a claim of title exclusive of any other right, and must file the required return with the property appraiser including a full legal description. With color of title, the claim rests on a recorded instrument and the same seven years of continuous possession. These claims are fact-intensive, and defending against one means proving the occupant’s possession was not truly exclusive or continuous.

When title problems come from a failing business, the cure may be inside the entity rather than on the deed. A Florida circuit court can dissolve an LLC on a member’s petition when managers or members are deadlocked and the company faces irreparable injury, when assets are being misappropriated or wasted, or when it is not reasonably practicable to carry on the business under the operating agreement. The court may appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing, or order a purchase of the petitioner’s interest. For corporations, shareholders have parallel remedies, and the corporation or other shareholders can elect to buy out the petitioner at fair value, with a 60-day window to agree on terms. If the real estate is held by the company, resolving the entity dispute often resolves who controls the property, and a quiet title or partition claim may become a secondary issue.

Questions About Quiet Title Actions in Sunrise and Broward County

What is a quiet title action?

It is a lawsuit that asks a court to declare who owns real property and to cancel competing claims, recorded documents, or conveyances that cloud the title. The judgment, once recorded, gives the owner a clean record to sell, refinance, or pass the property on.

Who can file a quiet title action in Florida?

Any person or entity claiming legal or equitable title to land may file, and the statute also covers situations where two or more people claim the same land through a common source. The suit can be filed in any county where any part of the land is located.

What must the plaintiff prove?

The plaintiff has to show a valid claim to the property and typically traces title back at least seven years before filing, unless the court orders otherwise. The strength of your own chain of title matters more than the weakness of the other side’s claim.

How long does a quiet title case take in Broward County?

It depends on whether the defendants respond, whether anyone has to be located and served by publication, and whether the facts are contested. Uncontested cases move far faster than disputed ones that go to trial. Claims based on a fraudulent attempted conveyance are entitled to summary procedure and calendar priority.

Can I fix a title problem without suing?

Sometimes. A corrective deed, a recorded release, or a negotiated settlement with the other claimant can resolve many defects. A lawsuit becomes necessary when the other party refuses to cooperate, cannot be found, or genuinely disputes ownership.

Does title insurance cover a quiet title action?

If the defect is covered by your owner’s policy, the insurer may be obligated to defend and pay for the cure. Coverage depends on the policy’s terms and exclusions, so notify the insurer promptly and have the policy reviewed.

What happens if the person claiming the property cannot be located?

The court can authorize service by alternative methods, including publication, after you show diligent efforts to find the defendant. Those cases take longer and require more documentation of the search.

Can a former business partner keep a claim on property after the business ends?

Yes, if the deed was never changed or if they hold an equitable interest. Whether they actually own any of the property depends on the operating agreement, the buyout terms, and the history of contributions. A quiet title action can resolve it, often alongside claims for an accounting or breach of fiduciary duty.

How is quiet title different from partition?

Quiet title determines who owns the property. Partition assumes ownership is established and divides the property or orders its sale among the co-owners. Many disputes involve both, with title resolved first and partition following.

I live out of state. Can I bring or defend a Sunrise title case remotely?

Generally yes. We regularly represent clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with property in South Florida, handling local court appearances so you do not have to travel for every hearing. Some proceedings, such as trial, may require your testimony, which we plan around your schedule.

Can another attorney refer me to your firm for a title case?

Yes. A significant part of our practice comes from other lawyers, including out of state attorneys whose clients have Florida real estate disputes. We keep referring counsel informed and respect their relationship with the client.

Serving Sunrise and Surrounding Broward County Title Clients

We represent property owners in Sunrise and throughout Broward County, from Plantation and Lauderhill to Tamarac, Coral Springs, and Pompano Beach. Clients also come to us from Fort Lauderdale, Davie, Weston, Pembroke Pines, Hollywood, Deerfield Beach, Coconut Creek, Margate, and Lauderdale Lakes, along with other Broward communities where inherited homes, investment parcels, and commercial buildings carry unresolved ownership questions. The Seventeenth Judicial Circuit hears these cases, and our attorneys appear in Broward’s courts on quiet title, partition, and related real estate matters.

Our reach extends north into Palm Beach County, including Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, West Palm Beach, and Palm Beach Gardens, where cases are heard in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit. We also serve clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who hold real estate or business interests in South Florida and need a Florida litigator to handle the local side of their dispute.

Talk to a Sunrise Quiet Title Lawyer About Your Property

If a deed, lien, former partner, or competing heir is standing between you and clear ownership, the next step is a conversation about your documents and your options. A Sunrise quiet title lawyer at the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can review your chain of title, explain whether a lawsuit, a partition, or a negotiated cure fits your situation, and tell you what it is likely to cost in time and fees. Call the firm to schedule a consultation, and we will respond within our 24 hour return call policy if we are in court when you reach us.