Tamarac Family Business Dispute Attorney

The goal in a case like this is rarely to win a fight with a relative. It is to keep the company, the property, or your share of the value intact while the family sorts out who controls what. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team handles business and real estate disputes for owners and investors in Tamarac, throughout Broward County, and across Palm Beach County, and a good part of that work involves relatives who also own a company together. If you need a Tamarac family business dispute attorney, we can help you work out whether the path forward is a buyout, a negotiated separation, or a court case.

Family business fights are different from ordinary partner disagreements because the paperwork and the relationships rarely match. A company may be run on a handshake between siblings, an operating agreement may never have been signed, or a parent may have transferred ownership years ago without anyone defining what the children actually own. Money gets mixed together, titles get blurred, and decisions get made at the dinner table instead of in a meeting. When the relationship sours, those informal habits become the heart of the dispute.

Tamarac is a community with many small family-run operations, rental properties held by relatives, and investment real estate shared among siblings or in-laws. When co-owners stop speaking, the business or property often freezes. Bills go unpaid, distributions stop, and one side may begin acting alone. The sooner you understand what rights you actually hold, the more options you keep.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for a Family Business Dispute

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents business owners, investors, and families in South Florida’s most difficult business and real estate disputes, serving Tamarac, Broward County, Palm Beach County, and the surrounding region. Firm founder Andrew M. Schwartz has spent 37 years in litigation, was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989, and has built his career around complex contract disputes, business divorces, and conflicts among partners, LLC members, and shareholders. He earned his undergraduate degree from Emory University in 1986 and his law degree from the University of Miami in 1989. He is joined by Senior Counsel Sundeep Nath, a Northwestern-trained litigator with years of experience in business and real estate cases in state and federal courts.

The firm practices as a true legal team, which matters when a dispute is personal. Everyone working on your matter knows the file, so you are not re-explaining family history each time you call. We keep a strict 24 hour return call policy when we are in court or otherwise unable to respond right away, and we can schedule conference calls at times that work for everyone involved.

Family clients often arrive thinking they need the most aggressive lawyer available. Andrew’s view, shaped over decades of practice, is that most clients want someone who acts as the situation requires and uses finesse when finesse will do, while keeping fees in proportion to what is at stake. We are experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as courtroom litigation, and we look for the resolution that serves your goals and budget rather than stretching a case out for its own sake. When a courtroom is necessary, the results speak to our trial work: 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.

Types of Disputes Between Family Co-Owners

• Sibling Disputes Over an Inherited Company: Brothers and sisters who inherit a business together often disagree on who runs it, who gets paid, and whether to sell. Without a clear operating or shareholder agreement, these disputes turn on fiduciary duties and the company’s governing documents.
• Parent and Child Disagreements Over Succession: A founder who wants to hold on and a child who wants to modernize or take control can reach a standoff. Questions of compensation, ownership transfers, and who has authority are common flashpoints.
• Spouses and In-Laws as Co-Owners: When a marriage ends or a family falls out, in-laws and former spouses may still hold membership or shares. Their rights to information, distributions, and buyouts depend on the entity’s agreements and Florida law.
• Missing or Diverted Company Funds: A relative who controls the books may take money, pay personal expenses from company accounts, or be unable to explain where cash went. Remedies can include an accounting, breach of fiduciary duty claims, and recovery of funds.
• Deadlocked Management: Two equal owners who cannot agree can bring a company to a standstill. Florida’s LLC statute recognizes deadlock, combined with threatened irreparable injury, as a ground for judicial dissolution.
• Minority Owners Being Frozen Out: A relative who holds a smaller stake may be cut off from information, distributions, or decisions. Claims often involve breach of the operating or shareholder agreement and breach of fiduciary duty.
• Family-Owned Real Estate: Rental properties, commercial buildings, and homes held among relatives can lead to partition actions or title disputes when owners disagree about selling, managing, or buying one another out.
• Buyouts and Valuation Fights: Even when everyone agrees someone should leave, the price is often contested. Valuation disputes require careful attention to the agreements and the company’s financial history.

What to Do Right Now When a Family Business Relationship Breaks Down

Start by getting the documents in one place. That means the articles of organization or incorporation, the operating agreement or shareholder agreement, any buy-sell terms, tax returns, bank statements, loan documents, leases, and any deeds if real estate is involved. Family companies sometimes run without a signed agreement, and that fact alone shapes your options, so it is worth knowing early. Write down a timeline of who contributed what and when, and preserve emails and text messages rather than deleting anything out of frustration.

Be careful about self-help. Withdrawing money, changing locks, or cutting a relative off from accounts can create claims against you and weaken your position. If you believe funds are being moved or spent, say so to a lawyer quickly, because a court can order temporary or emergency injunctive relief to stop assets from being moved while the dispute is pending. Timing also matters for the claims themselves. In Florida, an action on a written contract generally has a five-year limitations period, while claims based on oral or implied agreements have four years. Fraud claims run four years from discovery, with an outer limit of 12 years. A suit seeking specific performance carries a much shorter one-year period. Waiting to see if tempers cool can cost you leverage.

Where the case is filed depends on where the company and property are. Disputes tied to Tamarac are typically heard in the Circuit Court of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit in and for Broward County, which has a complex business division for matters such as business entity dissolution and large business litigation. Cases tied to Palm Beach County property or entities belong to the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit. Amounts above the county court limit go to circuit court, and some disputes with the right parties and claims can end up in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Many cases never reach trial, though. Negotiation, mediation, and arbitration resolve a large number of family disputes, and we prepare each matter so you can negotiate from a position of strength.

Finally, think about what you actually want. Some clients want to stay in the business and stop a relative’s misconduct. Others want a clean exit at a fair price. Others need the property sold and the proceeds divided. Your goal drives the strategy, and a frank early conversation about it saves time and expense.

Dissolution, Buyouts, and Partition: Legal Tools Family Owners Can Use

When family co-owners cannot continue together, Florida law offers several routes. For LLCs, a member or manager can ask a circuit court for judicial dissolution on grounds that include: it is not reasonably practicable to carry on the business under the articles and operating agreement; controlling managers or members have acted, are acting, or are reasonably expected to act illegally or fraudulently; company assets are being misappropriated or wasted, causing injury; or managers or members are deadlocked and irreparable injury to the company is threatened or occurring. In those proceedings the court may appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing, or order a purchase of the petitioning member’s interest. If the operating agreement contains a deadlock sale provision that is started before the court finds deadlock, that provision can take the place of a dissolution order.

Corporations follow a parallel but distinct framework. A shareholder may seek judicial dissolution on statutory grounds, and the corporation or the other shareholders can respond by electing to purchase the petitioner’s shares at fair value. If the parties agree on the value and terms within 60 days after the first election is filed, the court enters an order directing the purchase on those terms. The corporation must notify the other shareholders within 30 days that they may avoid dissolution by electing to buy. During the case, the court can issue injunctions and take steps to preserve company assets. This buyout mechanism is often the practical answer in a family company, because it lets one side keep the business and the other receive fair value.

Shared real estate has its own remedy. A partition action asks the court to divide the property or, if it cannot fairly be divided, to sell it and split the proceeds among the owners according to their interests. All partition actions are in chancery. The court generally appoints three commissioners to evaluate whether division is practical, and a sale may be ordered where division would prejudice the owners. Family-held property raises a further wrinkle: Florida’s heirs property rules apply when property is held as tenants in common, no binding agreement governs partition, at least one owner acquired title from a relative, and certain further conditions are met, such as twenty percent or more of the interests being held by relatives. Those cases follow added protections that favor keeping property in the family when possible. Where competing ownership claims cloud title, a quiet title action can settle who owns what.

Questions Families Ask About Business and Property Disputes

What is a family business dispute?

It is a conflict among relatives who co-own or co-manage a company or property, involving issues such as control, compensation, distributions, ownership percentages, or the future of the business. Legally, these disputes are decided under the entity’s governing documents and Florida business and real estate law, not family expectations.

Can I force a relative out of the company?

It depends on your operating or shareholder agreement and the conduct involved. Many agreements include buyout, expulsion, or dissociation provisions, and Florida law provides remedies when an owner has engaged in serious misconduct or the company can no longer function. An attorney can review your documents and explain what is realistically available.

What if we never signed an operating agreement?

Many family businesses operate this way. In that case, default rules under Florida’s business entity statutes fill the gaps, and the history of how the owners actually dealt with each other becomes important evidence. These cases can be harder, which is a reason to get advice early.

What can I do if a family member is taking money from the business?

You may have claims for breach of fiduciary duty, an accounting, conversion, and recovery of the funds. In urgent situations, a court can order injunctive relief to stop assets from being moved or spent while the case proceeds.

Does a family business dispute have to go to court?

No. Many are resolved through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, which can be faster, less expensive, and more private than a trial. We pursue the route most likely to achieve your goals and are prepared to litigate if talks fail.

How long do I have to file a claim over a breach of our agreement?

For a claim founded on a written instrument, Florida generally allows five years. Oral or implied contract claims have four years, fraud claims have four years from discovery with a 12-year cap, and a specific performance action has one year. Because different claims in one dispute can carry different deadlines, do not assume you have the longest one.

What happens if my relative and I both own a building and disagree about selling it?

Either co-owner can ask a court for partition. The court may divide the property or order it sold and divide the proceeds. If the building was inherited and the heirs property rules apply, the court must follow additional steps designed to protect family owners, including evaluating whether dividing the property would prejudice the owners as a group before ordering a partition in kind.

Can the other owners avoid dissolution by buying me out?

In a corporation, yes. When a shareholder petitions for judicial dissolution on certain grounds, the corporation or the other shareholders can elect to purchase the petitioner’s shares at fair value, and an election to purchase is irrevocable unless the court finds it equitable to modify it. In an LLC, the court can also order a purchase of a petitioning member’s interest.

Can I still protect my interest if I live out of state?

Yes. We regularly represent clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who have business or real estate interests in South Florida. We handle the local court appearances and keep you informed at each stage, so you do not need to travel for every hearing.

Is it worth hiring a lawyer if the dispute is with a parent or sibling and the amount is modest?

Often it is worth at least a consultation. The deadlines, the wording of your governing documents, and the steps you take early can affect what you recover or keep, and a short review can tell you whether a negotiated resolution makes more sense than litigation.

What if a family member is moving assets while we argue?

Tell your lawyer right away. Temporary and emergency injunctions exist for situations where waiting for a final judgment would let the damage be done, and courts can act to preserve company assets during a dissolution case.

Serving Family Business Clients Across Tamarac and South Florida

We represent family business owners in Tamarac and the neighboring Broward County communities of Sunrise, Lauderhill, Lauderdale Lakes, Plantation, Margate, Coconut Creek, Coral Springs, Parkland, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Oakland Park, and Fort Lauderdale. Our work extends to Davie, Weston, Hollywood, and Pembroke Pines, as well as Broward’s western and southern communities where family companies and shared properties are common.

North of the county line, we serve clients in Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Lake Worth, West Palm Beach, Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, and Palm Beach Gardens throughout Palm Beach County. We also work with clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut whose relatives or co-owners are here in South Florida. Whether the dispute involves a company, a rental property, or an inherited building, we handle the Florida proceedings so you can focus on the decisions that matter.

Talk With a Tamarac Family Business Attorney About Your Dispute

When relatives who share a company or property can no longer agree, the path forward depends on documents, deadlines, and decisions made early. If you are looking for a Tamarac family business attorney who will treat both the financial stakes and the family relationships with care, the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team is ready to listen. Call us to schedule a consultation and talk through your situation, your goals, and the options available to you.