Florida Family Business Dispute Attorney

Resolving a dispute inside a family company usually means one of three outcomes: a buyout that lets one side keep the business, a restructured arrangement that lets everyone keep working together, or a clean separation through a sale or dissolution. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents siblings, parents, children, spouses, in-laws, and longtime friends who co-own companies and need a Florida family business dispute attorney to get them to the right outcome. The firm handles these cases for owners and investors in Palm Beach County and Broward County, including Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, and Fort Lauderdale, as well as out of state owners with South Florida companies and real estate.

Family disputes differ from ordinary partner disputes in one practical way: the paperwork rarely matches the relationships. A business started at a kitchen table may have no operating agreement at all, or one that was copied from a form and never updated when a parent retired, a child joined, or a spouse received an interest. Compensation was set by habit, titles were informal, and nobody wrote down who decides what. When trust fails, those gaps become the dispute, and Florida’s default rules for LLCs and corporations end up deciding questions the family never addressed.

The first job in any of these cases is to establish what the owners actually hold and what the governing documents actually say. Ownership percentages, voting rights, manager authority, transfer restrictions, and buyout terms determine which remedies exist and how much leverage each side has before anyone files a pleading.

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

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team is a business and real estate litigation firm serving Palm Beach County, Broward County, and South Florida. Andrew M. Schwartz, the firm’s founder, has spent 37 years in litigation and was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989. His career has centered on complex contract disputes, business divorces, and conflicts between partners, LLC members, and shareholders, which is the legal core of nearly every family business fight. 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 experience in business and real estate cases in state and federal courts. The firm works as a true legal team, so everyone handling a matter knows the file, and clients are covered by a strict 24 hour return call policy when the attorneys are in court. The firm is also experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as courtroom litigation, which matters in family cases where a negotiated, lower-temperature resolution is often the better result for the business and for the relationships that remain.

The firm’s trial work is a relevant measure of what happens when a case cannot be settled. After a five-day bench trial in Broward County Circuit Court, the court entered a 32-page final judgment in May 2024 awarding the firm’s client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. Family businesses frequently hold real property, and disputes over who gets the building, the land, or the buyout of a co-owner’s share often end up in that same kind of contract and title litigation.

Types of Family Business Disputes We Handle

• Deadlock Between Equal Owners: Two siblings or spouses each holding half of an LLC or corporation can stop the company cold when they disagree. Florida’s LLC statute recognizes deadlock with threatened irreparable injury as a ground for judicial dissolution, and many operating agreements contain their own deadlock sale mechanisms that may control instead.
• Minority Owner Freeze-Outs: A parent or sibling who controls the company may cut a family member out of management, distributions, or information. Remedies can include claims for breach of fiduciary duty, an accounting, enforcement of the operating or shareholder agreement, and in appropriate cases dissolution or a court-ordered buyout.
• Missing or Misused Company Money: Personal expenses run through the business, unexplained transfers, unpaid distributions, and commingled accounts are common in closely held family companies. We pursue accountings, recovery of diverted funds, and emergency orders to keep assets from being moved while the case is pending.
• Succession and Inheritance Conflicts: When a founder dies or retires, heirs may inherit interests without any agreement about control or compensation, and some of them may not want to be owners at all. Valuation of the inherited share and the terms of a buyout are usually the center of the fight.
• Compensation and Capital Contribution Disputes: One family member works full time for a modest salary while another contributes capital or sits on the sidelines. Disagreements over who put in what, and what each is owed, turn on the documents and the parties’ actual history of dealing.
• Disputes Over Shared Real Estate: Family companies often own the property they operate from, and relatives may also co-own investment real estate outside the entity. Partition actions, title disputes, and quiet title cases resolve who owns what and whether property is divided or sold.
• Spouses and In-Laws as Owners: Business interests transferred to a spouse or in-law, or acquired during a marriage, can generate ownership and control disputes that overlap with, but are distinct from, a family law case.
• Breach of Operating, Partnership, or Shareholder Agreements: Even informal family companies often have a written agreement somewhere. Violations of transfer restrictions, consent requirements, or non-compete terms are enforceable like any other contract.

What to Do When a Family Business Relationship Breaks Down

Start by collecting the documents that define the company: articles of organization or incorporation, any operating agreement or shareholder agreement, amendments, buy-sell terms, meeting minutes, tax returns, bank and loan statements, and records of capital contributions and distributions. If you are a minority owner or a non-managing member, request company records formally and in writing rather than relying on informal promises from relatives. Keep copies outside the company’s systems, because email accounts and shared drives are controlled by whoever runs the business.

Be careful about what you do in the meantime. Do not withdraw company funds to “even things up,” change locks, redirect customer payments, or lock a relative out of accounts without advice. Self-help of that kind can hand the other side a breach of fiduciary duty claim and weaken your credibility with the court. At the same time, do not sit on real evidence of diversion. If money or property is actively moving, a prompt request for an injunction or a court-appointed receiver or custodian may be the only way to preserve what is left. Florida courts require notice and a hearing before appointing a receiver or custodian for an LLC, and in corporate dissolution proceedings the court can issue injunctions and preserve assets while the case is pending.

Deadlines matter even when the dispute is among relatives. A claim founded on a written agreement generally carries a five-year limitations period in Florida, while claims on oral or implied contracts carry four years, and rescission claims carry four years. Fraud claims run four years from discovery, subject to an outer limit of twelve years. A suit for specific performance has a one-year period, which can arrive quickly in a buyout or real estate contract dispute. Negligence-based claims against outside professionals are shorter still, at two years. Because the accrual date of each claim depends on the facts, waiting for the family to “work it out” can quietly consume the time you have.

Cases with more than $50,000 at stake are heard in circuit court, which in Palm Beach County is the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit and in Broward County the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit. Broward’s Seventeenth Circuit maintains a complex business division that handles matters such as dissolution of certain business entities and large business litigation, and a case can be filed directly into it only through the procedure set by the circuit’s administrative order. Some disputes with diverse parties or federal claims may belong in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, which holds court in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. Choosing the right forum early affects timing, the judge assigned, and the pace of the case.

Dissolution, Buyouts, and the Court’s Remedies

When family owners cannot continue together, Florida law offers several routes. For an LLC, a member or manager can ask the circuit court to dissolve the company on grounds that include deadlock with threatened irreparable injury, misappropriation or waste of assets, illegal or fraudulent conduct by those in control, and circumstances in which it is not reasonably practicable to carry on the business under the articles and operating agreement. In an LLC dissolution case, the court may also appoint a receiver or custodian or order a purchase of the petitioning member’s interest instead of ending the company. If the operating agreement has a deadlock sale provision that was initiated before the court finds deadlock, that provision generally governs in place of a dissolution order.

For corporations, a shareholder can seek judicial dissolution or other relief, including where the business has been abandoned and not wound up within a reasonable time. Florida also gives the corporation, or the other shareholders if the corporation does not act, the right to avoid dissolution by electing to buy the petitioning shareholder’s shares at fair value. The corporation must notify the other shareholders of that option within 30 days after a dissolution proceeding of this type is filed, and if the parties agree on value and terms within 60 days of the first election, the court enters an order directing the purchase. An election to buy is generally irrevocable unless the court finds it equitable to modify it. These mechanics make valuation, not liquidation, the real battleground in many family corporate cases.

Many family disputes end with neither dissolution nor a trial. A negotiated buyout, a structured wind-down, a sale to a third party, or a restructured management arrangement can preserve the company’s value and reduce cost. Mediation and arbitration are often the fastest route when the family wants privacy and the owners still have enough common ground to agree on terms.

Family Property Held Outside the Company

Family business conflicts frequently extend to real estate held by relatives as co-owners. Florida partition actions are brought in circuit court, and the complaint must describe the land, identify the owners and their residences, and state each owner’s share. If the court orders partition and the property cannot be divided fairly, it may be sold at public auction with proceeds divided according to ownership interests, and any sale on credit generally requires at least one-third of the price paid down unless all parties agree otherwise.

Special rules apply when the property is “heirs property,” meaning real property held in common where one or more of the co-owners acquired title from a relative and certain other conditions are met, such as relatives holding at least twenty percent of the interests. In those cases Florida’s Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act, rather than the ordinary partition procedure, controls, and a court will not order partition in kind unless commissioners have considered the statutory factors and found that a physical division would prejudice the co-owners as a group. Quiet title actions are a separate remedy for clearing competing ownership claims, and the plaintiff must trace title for at least seven years before filing unless the court orders otherwise.

Frequently Asked Questions About Family Business Disputes in Florida

What is a family business dispute?

It is a legal conflict among relatives or close associates who co-own a company, such as disagreements over control, pay, distributions, succession, or whether one owner is acting in their own interest. Legally, these are usually partnership, LLC member, or shareholder disputes, with the family relationship adding emotional weight to the same underlying claims.

Can I sue a family member who owns part of the business with me?

Yes. Co-owners owe duties to the company and, in some circumstances, to one another, and breach of an operating agreement, shareholder agreement, or fiduciary duty can support a lawsuit. Whether to sue depends on the documents, the damage, and whether a negotiated resolution is realistic.

What if our family company never had a written operating agreement?

Florida’s statutory default rules then fill the gaps, and a court will also look at the owners’ actual course of dealing. The absence of an agreement does not prevent claims, but it can make ownership percentages, authority, and compensation harder to prove, which is why gathering tax filings, bank records, and correspondence early is important.

Can a court order a family member to buy me out?

In some situations. In an LLC dissolution case, the court may order a purchase of a petitioning member’s interest, and in a corporate dissolution case the corporation or other shareholders can elect to buy the petitioner’s shares at fair value. Many operating and shareholder agreements also contain buyout or deadlock sale terms that apply independently.

How long do I have to file a claim against a family business partner?

It depends on the claim. A suit on a written contract generally has a five-year limitations period, while oral or implied contract claims and rescission claims have four years, fraud runs four years from discovery with a twelve-year outer limit, and specific performance has one year. The right deadline turns on the facts, so confirm it before assuming you have time.

Can I get emergency relief if a relative is draining company accounts?

Often yes. Courts can grant temporary injunctions to stop assets from being moved or spent while a dispute is pending, and can appoint a receiver or custodian after notice and a hearing. These requests depend on evidence, so documentation of the transfers matters.

Will a family business case be public?

Court filings are generally public records, which is one reason many family owners prefer mediation or arbitration. A confidential negotiated settlement keeps financial details and family conflicts out of the public docket.

What happens to a family business when a founder dies without clear succession terms?

The interest passes under the estate and the entity’s governing documents, and heirs may become co-owners with no agreement on control or compensation. Disputes commonly arise over valuation, management authority, and whether an heir can be bought out, and those questions are best addressed before the relationships harden.

Do spouses or in-laws who hold shares have the same rights as other owners?

Their rights come from the ownership interest they actually hold and the company’s governing documents, not from the family relationship. A spouse or in-law who is an owner can bring or defend the same claims as any other owner, and transfer restrictions in the agreements may limit what they can do with their shares.

Is it worth hiring a lawyer for a smaller family company?

Often yes, because the cost of an unresolved dispute can exceed the legal cost, especially when real estate, ongoing revenue, or an inheritance is involved. A focused early review of the documents can show whether the dispute is likely to settle, whether a quick injunction is needed, or whether a buyout is the realistic outcome.

Can I handle this from out of state?

Yes. The firm regularly represents clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who own Florida businesses or real estate with relatives. We handle local court appearances and proceedings and keep out of state owners informed throughout, so most hearings do not require travel.

How long does a family business lawsuit take?

Timing varies widely with the complexity of the company, the amount at issue, the forum, and how willing each side is to negotiate. Emergency injunction requests move in weeks, while fully litigated dissolution and valuation cases can take much longer, which is why many owners explore mediation in parallel.

Serving Family Business Owners Across Palm Beach and Broward Counties

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents family business owners throughout Palm Beach County and Broward County. In Palm Beach County, that includes Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Lake Worth Beach, West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, and Belle Glade, along with the surrounding communities that feed the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit. In Broward County, the firm serves owners in Fort Lauderdale, Deerfield Beach, Pompano Beach, Coral Springs, Plantation, Sunrise, Hollywood, Davie, Weston, and Pembroke Pines, as well as neighboring Broward communities within the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit.

Across South Florida, we also represent clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut whose relatives, partners, or co-owners are located here, and we work with referring attorneys who need local counsel for a Florida dispute. Whether the family company is a restaurant, a medical or professional practice, a construction business, a holding company, or a real estate portfolio, our team handles the litigation, mediation, and negotiation needed to reach a resolution.

Speak With a Family Business Dispute Attorney in South Florida

When relatives stop agreeing about a company, the choices narrow quickly and the documents, deadlines, and early decisions often shape the result. A Florida family business dispute lawyer at the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can review your agreements, explain which remedies fit your facts, and recommend whether to negotiate, mediate, or litigate. Contact the firm today to schedule a consultation about your family business dispute.