Tamarac Breach of Fiduciary Duty Attorney

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents business owners, investors, and family co-owners in Tamarac and across Broward County and Palm Beach County who have discovered that someone they trusted with company money, decisions, or property put their own interests first. The firm handles partnership and LLC member disputes, shareholder conflicts, missing-funds cases, and the emergency court relief that often has to come before anything else.

A Tamarac breach of fiduciary duty attorney is usually called when the problem is not a missed payment but a betrayal of position: a managing member who pays himself from the company account, a business partner who quietly steers a client to a side venture, or a co-owner who stops sharing the books. The legal question is different from an ordinary contract dispute. A fiduciary owes loyalty and candor, and the claim focuses on what that person did with the authority they held.

That difference matters in practice. A breach of contract case asks whether a promise was broken. A fiduciary case asks whether someone with control over what belongs, in part, to you used that control against you. The remedies, the evidence, and the speed at which you may need to act are not the same.

How a Fiduciary Duty Claim Differs From a Contract or Fraud Claim

People often lump these theories together, and sometimes a single dispute supports all of them. They are still distinct, and choosing the right ones shapes the whole case.

A fiduciary relationship exists when one person holds a position of trust over another’s interests. In a closely held company, that commonly means managers of an LLC, directors and officers of a corporation, and in many partnerships, the partners themselves. The duty of loyalty bars self-dealing and competing with the company. The duty of care requires informed, good-faith decision making. Neither depends on a clause in the operating agreement, although the agreement can shape how far the duties reach.

Fraud, by contrast, requires proof of a false statement or concealment and reliance on it. Florida gives a fraud claim four years from discovery, capped at twelve years overall. A written-contract claim generally carries five years, while an oral or implied contract claim carries four. Because the deadline depends on how the claim is framed, waiting to see how things play out can quietly shrink your options.

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

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team serves business owners, investors, and families throughout South Florida, including Tamarac, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, and the surrounding parts of Broward County and Palm Beach County. The firm also represents clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut whose partners or co-owners are here, handling the Florida court appearances so those clients do not have to travel for every hearing.

Andrew M. Schwartz, the firm’s founder, has spent 37 years in litigation and was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989. He earned his undergraduate degree from Emory University in 1986 and his law degree from the University of Miami in 1989. His career has centered on complex contract disputes, business divorces, and conflicts between partners, LLC members, and shareholders, which is the ground where fiduciary claims arise. Senior Counsel Sundeep Nath, a Northwestern-trained litigator, brings years of experience in business and real estate cases in state and federal courts.

The firm practices as a true legal team, so everyone working on a matter knows the file. Calls are answered, and a strict 24 hour return call policy applies when the attorneys are in court. Fiduciary cases are document-heavy and often turn on the exact wording of an agreement and the parties’ history of dealing with one another, and that is the level of preparation the firm brings.

On the results side, in a matter decided after a 5-day bench trial, the Broward County Circuit Court issued a 32-page final judgment awarding the firm’s client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. That outcome reflects the firm’s trial readiness in contested Broward County business and real estate disputes. Andrew Schwartz is also candid that no lawyer can guarantee a result, and that most clients want a cost-conscious path rather than a fight prolonged for its own sake. The attorneys are experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as the courtroom.

Situations That Give Rise to Fiduciary Duty Claims in Business Ownership

• Self-Dealing by a Manager or Partner: A manager approves a lease, vendor contract, or loan in which he or she holds a hidden interest, or pays above-market compensation to a related party. Loyalty duties are aimed squarely at this conduct.
• Diverted Company Funds: Payments to personal accounts, undocumented withdrawals, and commingled bank accounts. Remedies can include an accounting and recovery of the money, and emergency relief when assets are being moved.
• Usurping a Business Opportunity: An owner redirects a customer, contract, or acquisition to a separate company he or she controls, leaving the original business with the cost and none of the gain.
• Freeze-Outs of Minority Owners: Minority members or shareholders cut off from information, distributions, or decision making while the controlling owners take salaries and perks.
• Refusal to Provide Books and Records: A co-owner who stonewalls requests for financial statements, tax returns, and bank records is often hiding something, and access to those records is usually the first battle.
• Unpaid Distributions and Disputed Capital Contributions: Profits withheld or recharacterized, and contributions credited as loans or ignored altogether, particularly in closely held South Florida companies with informal bookkeeping.
• Family Business Betrayals: Siblings who inherited a company together, parents and children with different plans, or in-laws holding shares, where one family member treats the company as a personal asset.
• Misappropriation or Waste of Assets: Wasteful or unlawful use of company property can itself support judicial dissolution of an LLC, and in some cases a receiver or custodian.

What to Do If You Suspect a Co-Owner Is Acting Against the Company

Start by securing what you are entitled to see. Pull the operating agreement or shareholder agreement, the articles of organization or incorporation, tax returns, bank statements you have lawful access to, and any emails or texts showing approvals, promises, or admissions. Do not log into accounts you are not authorized to use, and do not remove documents from company premises without advice. Evidence gathered the wrong way can hurt the case it was meant to help.

Next, think about timing. Written-instrument claims in Florida generally run five years, oral or implied contract claims run four, and fraud runs four years from discovery within a twelve year cap. Negligence-based theories now run two years. Which period applies depends on how the claim is built, so do not assume you have the longest one. Specific performance claims, which can arise in real estate disputes, carry a one-year period, so they call for particular urgency.

If money or property is actively leaving the company, the question is not just how to sue but how to stop the bleeding. Courts can issue temporary injunctions to freeze or preserve assets and, in dissolution proceedings, can appoint a receiver or custodian after notice and a hearing. These are not routine requests, and a court expects a clear factual showing, which is why organized documents matter early.

For Tamarac clients, cases above the county court ceiling are filed in circuit court. Broward County disputes are heard in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, and the circuit has a complex business division that handles matters such as dissolution of certain business entities and large business litigation, with direct filing allowed only as its administrative order provides. Where a federal court has jurisdiction, the Southern District of Florida sits in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. Venue is worth getting right at the start.

Finally, avoid the common mistakes: confronting the co-owner before preserving evidence, signing a buyout or release you have not had reviewed, accepting a partial payment that quietly resets the narrative, and continuing to sign documents or tax filings that adopt the other side’s numbers.

When Fiduciary Breaches Lead to Buyouts, Dissolution, or Court-Supervised Separation

A fiduciary claim is often only half the story. The other half is what happens to the business. Florida’s LLC statute lets a member or manager ask the circuit court to dissolve a company on grounds that include misappropriation or waste of assets causing injury, illegal or fraudulent conduct by those in control, deadlock with threatened irreparable injury, and the impracticability of operating under the agreement. In such a proceeding the court may appoint a receiver or custodian or order a buyout of the petitioning member’s interest after a showing of sufficient merit. If the operating agreement contains a deadlock sale provision that was initiated before the court found deadlock grounds, that provision can take the place of a dissolution order.

Corporations have a parallel track. A shareholder petitioning for dissolution on certain grounds can trigger the corporation’s or other shareholders’ right to elect to buy the petitioner’s shares at fair value. If the parties agree on price and terms within 60 days after the first election is filed, the court enters an order directing the purchase. An election to purchase is irrevocable unless the court finds it equitable to modify it. The corporation must notify the other shareholders of the right to buy within 30 days of the start of the proceeding. Courts can also issue injunctions and preserve assets while the case is pending.

The firm’s goal is not to force a courtroom outcome when a negotiated buyout, structured wind-down, mediation, or arbitration would serve the client better. Where the relationship can be preserved, that is worth exploring. Where it cannot, the firm helps clients separate on fair terms.

Questions Owners Ask About Fiduciary Duty Claims

What exactly is a breach of fiduciary duty?

It occurs when someone who owes you loyalty and good faith in managing shared business interests puts their own interests ahead of yours or the company’s. Typical examples include self-dealing, diverting funds, competing with the business, and hiding information from co-owners.

Who counts as a fiduciary in a Florida company?

Managers of an LLC, directors and officers of a corporation, and partners in a partnership commonly owe fiduciary duties. The scope can vary with the entity type and the operating or shareholder agreement, so the specific documents matter.

Is a fiduciary duty claim the same as breach of contract?

No. A contract claim asks whether a promise in an agreement was broken. A fiduciary claim asks whether someone in a position of trust abused it. They can be filed together, and the evidence and remedies often overlap, but they are separate theories.

What can I recover if I win?

Possible remedies include an accounting, return of diverted funds, damages for lost profits or value, removal of a manager, a court-ordered buyout, or dissolution of the company. The right remedy depends on the facts and on what the client wants the business to look like afterward.

How long do I have to file?

It depends on how the claim is framed. Written-contract claims generally have five years, oral or implied contract claims four, fraud four years from discovery with a twelve year cap, and negligence two years. Because the period can turn on the legal theory, early review is worth it.

Can I get records from a partner who refuses to show me the books?

Members and shareholders generally have statutory and contractual information rights, and a refusal can itself be evidence of wrongdoing. A lawyer can demand the records formally and, if needed, seek a court order.

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

Yes, in appropriate cases. Courts can issue temporary injunctions to preserve assets, and in dissolution proceedings can appoint a receiver or custodian after notice and a hearing. The court will want a documented factual basis, so early organization of records helps.

What if my operating agreement says nothing about fiduciary duties or waives them?

Florida law lets operating agreements shape and in some respects limit duties, but not without limits, and bad faith and intentional misconduct remain concerns. The agreement language needs careful review before anyone assumes the claim is dead.

Does the case have to go to trial?

Not necessarily. Many disputes resolve through negotiation, mediation, arbitration, or a buyout. Some require a court’s help first, such as an injunction or a records order, to create the leverage that makes settlement possible.

I live in New York or New Jersey and my partner is in Broward County. Can the firm handle it?

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

My business partner is also a family member. Does that change how the case is handled?

The law applies the same way, but the approach often does not. Family disputes carry relationships alongside financial stakes, so the firm handles them with discretion while still protecting the client’s financial position at every step.

Do you work with other attorneys on fiduciary cases?

Yes. A significant part of the firm’s practice comes from referrals by other lawyers, including out of state counsel whose clients have Florida disputes, and the firm communicates with referring counsel throughout the matter.

Serving Fiduciary Duty Clients From Tamarac Across South Florida

The firm’s work for Tamarac owners extends outward through Broward County, from Sunrise, Lauderhill, Plantation, and Coconut Creek to Margate, Coral Springs, Pompano Beach, and Fort Lauderdale. It continues to Oakland Park, Lauderdale Lakes, North Lauderdale, Deerfield Beach, Davie, Weston, and Hollywood. In Palm Beach County, the firm represents clients in Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Lake Worth, Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, and West Palm Beach.

Whether the dispute involves a storefront company in a Tamarac shopping center, a professional practice with several members, or an investment property held by relatives, the same questions apply: who controlled the money, what did the agreement require, and what does the evidence show. The firm also serves out of state owners with South Florida interests, particularly from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

Speak With a Tamarac Fiduciary Duty Attorney Before Assets Move Further

If a partner, member, or manager has been using the company for personal gain, the early weeks often decide how much can be recovered or preserved. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can review your agreements, assess which claims fit the facts, and advise whether emergency relief, a negotiated buyout, or full litigation makes the most sense. As a Tamarac business litigation attorney team serving South Florida, the firm welcomes your call to discuss your situation and options.