Boca Raton Real Estate Title Dispute Attorney

The goal in a title fight is simple to state and hard to reach: a court order or a signed resolution that says, in terms a title company and a future buyer will accept, who owns the property and what claims no longer cloud it. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team works toward that result for property owners, investors, heirs, and former business partners in Boca Raton and across Palm Beach County and Broward County, and the firm treats a Boca Raton real estate title dispute attorney engagement as litigation work from the first day.

Title problems rarely announce themselves. They surface when a closing stalls because a lender or title insurer finds a competing deed, when a relative records a document nobody authorized, when a former partner claims an interest in a building the company bought years ago, or when someone has been using a strip of land for long enough to assert it as their own. In each of these, the paper record and the facts on the ground disagree, and a Florida circuit court is the place where that disagreement gets settled for good.

Florida gives owners real tools for this, including quiet title actions, partition, and emergency injunctive relief. Using them well depends on choosing the right claim, pleading the chain of title correctly, and moving fast when someone is trying to sell, encumber, or occupy the property while the dispute is pending.

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

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team is a business and real estate litigation firm serving clients in Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and throughout Palm Beach County and Broward County. Andrew M. He earned his undergraduate degree at Emory University and his law degree at the University of Miami. His career has centered on contract disputes, business divorces, and conflicts among partners, LLC members, and shareholders, which matters here because so many title disputes are really ownership disputes between people who once trusted each other.

Sundeep Nath, Senior Counsel, is a Northwestern-trained litigator with years of experience in business and real estate cases in state and federal courts. The two practice as a true team, so everyone working on a file knows it, and the firm keeps a strict 24 hour return call policy when the lawyers are in court or otherwise unavailable.

Real estate litigation is not a side offering here. The firm recently obtained a 32-page final judgment from the Broward County Circuit Court after a five-day bench trial, awarding its client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. That kind of result comes from preparing a property case the way a trial lawyer does: building the documentary record, understanding how the parties actually dealt with each other, and being ready to try the case rather than hoping the other side blinks.

The firm also represents out of state clients, including people from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who own Florida property with co-owners or former partners here. The firm handles local court appearances so those clients do not need to travel for every hearing, and it regularly works alongside referring attorneys whose clients have Florida property problems.

Types of Title and Ownership Disputes We Handle

• Quiet Title Actions: A suit asking the court to declare who holds title and to remove competing claims. Florida’s quiet title statute lets a person claiming legal or equitable title to land, or a party holding a recorded instrument that clouds title, ask the court to cancel the instrument and enter a judgment fixing ownership.
• Clouds from Forged or Fraudulent Deeds: A deed signed by someone without authority, or a conveyance procured by fraud, can sit in the public records and block a sale or refinance. Florida law specifically allows a quiet title action based on an alleged fraudulent attempted conveyance, with the court directed to move the case up on its calendar.
• Partition Actions: When co-owners cannot agree on what to do with a property, the court can divide it physically or order it sold and the proceeds split. This comes up with former business partners, siblings who inherited a home or building, and unmarried couples who bought together.
• Heirs Property Disputes: Property held in common among relatives, often passed down without clear documentation, is subject to a special set of partition rules that give family cotenants added protections before a forced sale.
• Adverse Possession and Boundary Claims: A neighbor or occupant who has used land openly and exclusively for years may assert ownership. Florida sets specific seven-year requirements for these claims, and an owner defending against one needs to act on the facts before the claimant’s position hardens.
• Competing Claims Among Business Partners: Property bought by a company, held in one partner’s name, or transferred during a falling out is a frequent source of title litigation, tied closely to claims over fiduciary duty and diverted assets.
• Failed Closings and Contract-Based Ownership Claims: A buyer with a signed purchase contract may have equitable rights in a property even before a deed is delivered, and disputes over who is entitled to close can turn into title litigation.

What to Do When Someone Is Contesting Your Property Rights

Start with the record. Pull the chain of title for the property, meaning every deed, mortgage, easement, and lien that has been recorded, and gather your own papers: the closing statement, purchase contract, any operating or partnership agreement that mentions the property, probate documents if the property came through an estate, and correspondence with the person disputing ownership. The Palm Beach County Clerk and the Broward County Clerk each maintain the official records for their county, and a competent search often reveals the instrument that created the problem.

Next, think about timing, because several Florida deadlines can quietly cost you your case. A lawsuit to recover real property generally requires that the plaintiff or a predecessor held possession within seven years before filing. Contract claims founded on a written instrument carry a five-year limitations period, while oral or implied contract claims carry four years. Fraud claims run four years from discovery, with an outer limit of twelve years, and an action to rescind a contract is also four years. A claim for specific performance has just one year, so a buyer trying to compel a conveyance cannot sit on the claim. If any of these periods might be running against you, that is the reason to see a lawyer promptly rather than after the next demand letter.

If the other side is threatening to sell, mortgage, or move into the property, ask early about emergency relief. A temporary injunction can freeze the status quo while the ownership question is decided, and that is often the difference between preserving an asset and chasing proceeds later. The firm regularly pursues early and emergency injunctive relief in real property and partner disputes.

Where you file depends on where the land sits. A quiet title complaint can be brought in any county where any part of the property is located. For Boca Raton properties, that usually means the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit in and for Palm Beach County, and properties on the Broward side of the line fall under the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit in and for Broward County. Title and partition cases are equitable matters heard in circuit court, and larger commercial disputes in Broward may be eligible for assignment to the circuit’s complex business division. Federal court in the Southern District of Florida, which sits in West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale, can come into play when the parties are from different states and the amount in controversy qualifies.

Finally, avoid the common mistakes. Do not record a document or sign a quitclaim deed to “clean things up” without advice, because it can concede an interest. Do not stop paying taxes or insurance on a property you say you own. Do not confront an occupant in a way that creates a separate legal problem. And do not assume that a friendly relationship with a co-owner means the paperwork is safe; most of the cases the firm sees began with a handshake.

How Quiet Title and Partition Cases Actually Work

A quiet title case is built on the plaintiff’s chain of title. Florida’s statute generally expects the plaintiff to trace title back at least seven years before filing unless the court orders otherwise, and the complaint must identify the property and everyone who may claim an interest. The defendants may include a prior owner, an heir, a lender, a former partner, or an unknown party who recorded something against the land. When the claim is that a recorded instrument is invalid, the court can cancel it and enter a judgment that title companies can rely on.

Adverse possession is the mirror image. A claimant without recorded paper title must show actual, continued possession for seven years under a claim of title, exclusive of anyone else’s right. A claimant relying on a recorded instrument, known as color of title, also needs seven years of continuous possession, and for possession beginning after the end of 1945 the instrument must have been recorded with the circuit court clerk in the county where the land lies. A claimant without paper title must also file a return with the property appraiser that includes a full legal description. When we represent the record owner, the fight is often over whether possession was truly exclusive and continuous, and whether the owner’s own records and tax payments tell a different story.

Partition follows a distinct path. Every partition action is brought in equity. The complaint must describe the land, name the owners and where they live, and state each owner’s share. After a judgment of partition, the court appoints three commissioners, chosen by the parties if they agree. If the commissioners report that the land cannot be divided without prejudicing the owners, the court may order a sale at public auction, with proceeds divided according to each owner’s interest. A sale on credit is possible for good cause, but at least one-third of the purchase price must be paid down unless everyone consents otherwise.

Heirs property gets different treatment. Florida’s Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act applies to partition cases filed on or after its effective date and covers tenancies in common where there is no binding agreement among the cotenants on partition, at least one cotenant acquired title from a relative, and further conditions are met, such as relatives holding twenty percent or more of the interests. If the court finds the property is heirs property, the special rules govern unless every cotenant agrees otherwise in writing. A partition in kind is not ordered unless the court is satisfied that commissioners considered the statutory factors and found that dividing the land would prejudice the cotenants as a group. For families that inherited a Boca Raton home or a rental building, these rules can change the strategy completely.

When the co-owners are also business partners or LLC members, the property case may need to be coordinated with a dissolution or buyout claim. Florida allows a court to dissolve an LLC where assets are being misappropriated or wasted, where managers or members are deadlocked and irreparable injury is threatened, or where 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 buyout of the petitioning member. For corporations, shareholders may face a statutory buyout election that can avoid dissolution. Deciding whether to attack the title problem, the ownership problem, or both is part of how the firm frames a case.

Questions About Title Disputes in Boca Raton

What is the difference between a quiet title action and a partition action?

A quiet title action asks the court to decide who owns the property or to remove an adverse claim from the record. A partition action assumes the owners are co-owners and asks the court to divide the property or order it sold. Some cases need both, for example when a co-owner’s deed is challenged and the remaining owners also want out.

Where do I file a quiet title lawsuit for property near Boca Raton?

Florida allows a quiet title complaint to be filed in any county where any part of the land sits. For Boca Raton property, that is typically the circuit court in Palm Beach County. Property just across the county line may belong in Broward County’s circuit court.

Can I stop a co-owner from selling the property while we fight?

Often yes, through a temporary injunction or by recording appropriate notice of the pending action. Courts consider the likelihood of success, the risk of irreparable harm, and the balance of interests, so how quickly you act and how well you document your claim matters.

How far back does the court look at the chain of title?

Florida’s quiet title statute generally requires the plaintiff to deraign title for at least seven years before filing, unless the court orders otherwise. In practice, problems often originate from instruments recorded long before that, so the search is usually broader.

Can someone take my land by using it for seven years?

Only if they meet the statutory requirements, which include actual, continuous, exclusive possession under a claim of title for seven years and compliance with the filing requirements. Whether those elements are satisfied is highly fact dependent, and owners who respond early are in a stronger position.

My relatives and I inherited a house together and one of them wants to force a sale. What are my options?

If the property qualifies as heirs property, Florida’s special partition rules apply, which can give the other family members a chance to buy out the requesting cotenant and require the court to consider whether dividing the property is practical before ordering a sale. You may also be able to negotiate a buyout without going to court.

How long do title and partition cases take in Palm Beach County and Broward County?

It varies with the number of parties, whether the facts are contested, and whether the case goes to trial. Fraud-based quiet title claims are entitled to an expedited procedure, while contested ownership and valuation disputes take longer. Many cases resolve through mediation after the key documents and depositions are in hand.

What if the deed that clouds my title was forged?

A forged deed generally conveys nothing, but it can still block a sale until a court says so. A quiet title action to cancel the instrument is the usual remedy, and if the forger is a partner, relative, or agent, related claims for fraud or breach of fiduciary duty may also be available.

I have a signed contract to buy a property, but the seller refuses to close. Is that a title dispute?

It can become one. A buyer’s remedy may be specific performance, which compels the seller to convey, but Florida’s limitations period for that claim is one year. The firm has obtained a final judgment awarding specific performance of a commercial real estate contract after trial.

Do I need to hire a Florida lawyer if I live in New York or New Jersey?

If the property is in Florida, the case will be heard in Florida, and you need a lawyer who can appear in the local courts. The firm represents clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with Florida property interests and handles the court appearances here while keeping you informed remotely.

Is it worth litigating over a small parcel or a modest ownership interest?

Sometimes the better path is mediation or a negotiated buyout. The firm looks for the resolution that fits the client’s goals and budget rather than prolonging a case for its own sake, and will tell you candidly when the cost of a fight outweighs the value at stake.

Serving Boca Raton Title Dispute Clients Across South Florida

Our work for property owners starts in Boca Raton and extends through the neighboring communities of Palm Beach County, including Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Highland Beach, and Lantana, then north through Lake Worth, West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, and Wellington. Clients in Royal Palm Beach and Belle Glade also turn to us for disputes involving land in western Palm Beach County.

Just across the county line, we represent owners in Broward County, including Deerfield Beach, Coconut Creek, Coral Springs, Pompano Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Plantation, and Hollywood. Whether the property is a waterfront home, a condominium unit, a retail building, or an investment parcel, the same title questions and the same equitable remedies apply, and the firm moves between the Fifteenth and Seventeenth Judicial Circuits as the property requires.

We also work with owners who live elsewhere, particularly in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, and with attorneys in those states whose clients hold interests in South Florida real estate.

Talk With a Boca Raton Title Dispute Attorney

If a deed, a co-owner, a former partner, or an occupant is putting your ownership in doubt, call the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team to discuss your situation with a Boca Raton real estate title dispute attorney. Bring whatever documents you have, even if they are incomplete, and we will tell you what claims are available, what deadlines may apply, and whether emergency relief makes sense. Reach out today to schedule a consultation.