Broward County Breach of Fiduciary Duty Attorney

Getting the money back, stopping the next withdrawal, and holding a partner or manager to account for self-dealing are the outcomes most owners want when someone they trusted has abused that trust. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team handles business and real estate litigation for owners, investors, and families across Broward County and the rest of South Florida, and a Broward County breach of fiduciary duty attorney is often the first call an owner makes once the books stop adding up.

Fiduciary claims rarely arrive alone. They tend to surface in the middle of a partnership falling apart: distributions that stopped, a manager who will not produce records, a co-owner who moved company cash into a personal account or quietly steered a deal to a company he controls. The legal question is whether the person who wronged you owed you a duty of loyalty and care, and whether he put his own interest ahead of the company’s or yours.

The practical question is speed. Money that has left the company can keep moving, so the first weeks of a dispute often matter more than the final judgment.

Who Owes Fiduciary Duties in a Florida Business, and What Breach Looks Like

A fiduciary duty is a legal obligation to act in someone else’s interest, or in the interest of an entity, rather than your own. In a Florida business, the people who typically carry that obligation include managers of an LLC, officers and directors of a corporation, general partners toward their partners, and in some situations majority owners toward minority owners. Whether a duty exists, and how far it reaches, often depends on the operating agreement, the shareholder agreement, the company’s structure, and how the owners actually behaved toward each other.

Breach comes in two broad forms. Disloyalty means taking something for yourself that belongs to the company: skimming revenue, paying yourself unauthorized compensation, usurping an opportunity the company should have received, or contracting with a company you secretly own. Neglect of duty means conduct that falls below the care owed, such as wasting assets or ignoring obvious red flags. The first form is usually easier to prove with bank records and the paper trail behind a transaction.

Claims like these frequently travel with companion claims. Breach of fiduciary duty often appears alongside a demand for an accounting, conversion, breach of the operating or shareholder agreement, and, where the facts support it, fraud. Which claims you plead affects the deadline you are working against, the remedies available, and how the other side will defend.

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

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents business owners, investors, and families in partnership disputes, business divorces, contract litigation, and real estate conflicts throughout Broward County, Palm Beach County, and South Florida. Founder Andrew M. Schwartz 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 from Emory University in 1986 and his law degree from the University of Miami in 1989. His practice has been built around complex contract disputes and conflicts among partners, LLC members, and shareholders, which is the ground where fiduciary claims are fought.

Andrew 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. That matters here because fiduciary disputes sometimes end up in different forums depending on the parties and the claims, and the firm is comfortable in both.

The firm works as a true legal team: everyone on a matter knows the file, so when you call during a fast-moving dispute you reach someone who can speak to it. The firm answers the phone and keeps a strict 24 hour return call policy when attorneys are in court. Our attorneys are experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as courtroom litigation, and we look for the resolution that fits your goals and budget rather than stretching a case out for its own sake.

The firm’s trial record includes a 5-day bench trial in Broward County Circuit Court that ended in a 32-page final judgment awarding our client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. That result was a contract case, not a fiduciary one, but it reflects the same kind of work a fiduciary dispute demands: building a detailed record, presenting it to a judge, and winning on the strength of the documents and testimony. We also represent clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who hold interests in South Florida businesses and property, handling the local appearances so they do not have to travel for every hearing, and we accept referrals from other attorneys whose clients need a Florida litigator.

Situations That Lead to Fiduciary Duty Claims in Broward Businesses

• Diverted Company Funds: A manager or partner moves revenue, deposits, or client payments into a personal or affiliated account. These cases are proven through bank statements, general ledgers, and the paper trail between entities.
• Unpaid or Withheld Distributions: One owner controls the cash and stops distributing profits to the others while continuing to draw compensation. The claim often combines fiduciary duty, breach of the operating agreement, and a demand for an accounting.
• Self-Dealing Transactions: The company leases property from, buys supplies from, or pays fees to an entity the manager secretly owns, at terms that favor the insider.
• Usurped Business Opportunities: A partner takes a deal, client, or property that belonged to the company and routes it to a competing venture.
• Squeeze-Outs of Minority Owners: A controlling owner freezes out a minority member or shareholder by cutting off information, excluding them from decisions, or diluting their stake. Fiduciary duty is often at the center of these claims.
• Commingled Accounts and Missing Records: Personal and company money are mixed, books are incomplete, and the person in control cannot or will not account for where funds went.
• Family Business Betrayals: Siblings, parents, or in-laws who share ownership accuse one another of mismanagement or taking more than their share. These cases need discretion alongside firm protection of your financial position.
• Real Estate Co-Investment Disputes: A partner who managed a jointly owned property collects rents, refinances, or sells without proper authority or without sharing proceeds.

What to Do Now If You Suspect a Partner or Manager Is Betraying You

Start by securing information while you still have access to it. Collect your operating agreement or shareholder agreement, formation documents, tax returns, bank and credit card statements, financial statements, loan documents, and any emails or texts that discuss money or decisions. If you hold a right to inspect company records as a member or shareholder, use it, and keep a written record of every request and every refusal. Do not take or alter documents you are not entitled to, and do not confront the other owner before you understand what the records show; a warned insider can move money faster than you can react.

Next, think about timing. The limitations period depends on how the claim is framed. A claim founded on a written instrument carries five years under Florida law, while a claim on an oral or implied agreement carries four. Fraud is generally four years from discovery, subject to an outer cap of 12 years. Negligence-based claims were cut to two years for causes of action accruing after March 24, 2023, and professional malpractice claims also run two years from when they were or should have been discovered. Because a single set of facts can support claims with different clocks, waiting to see how things develop is a risky strategy.

Where money is actively leaving, the question becomes whether to ask a court for emergency relief. Florida courts can enter temporary and permanent injunctions to stop assets from being moved or spent while the case is pending, and in company dissolution proceedings a court can appoint a receiver or custodian after notice and a hearing. These are serious remedies and the judge will want specific, documented evidence, which is why the records you gathered matter so much.

Cases of this size and type belong in circuit court, which hears civil disputes above the county court ceiling. In Broward County, that is the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, sitting at the Central Judicial Complex in Fort Lauderdale, with regional courthouses in Deerfield Beach, Hollywood, and Plantation. The Seventeenth Circuit also operates complex business and tort divisions that handle large business litigation and certain business dissolution cases, and a qualifying case can be filed directly into those divisions under the circuit’s administrative order. Depending on the parties and claims, a dispute can also land in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, which holds court in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.

The most common mistakes are delay, confronting the other owner too early, signing a settlement or buyout offer before an accounting, and assuming the operating agreement’s arbitration or mediation clause does not apply. A prompt review of your agreement tells you where the case can be brought and what you have to do first.

Remedies, Dissolution, and Buyouts When the Relationship Cannot Be Repaired

A fiduciary case does not always end with a check. Depending on the facts, remedies can include recovery of diverted funds, an accounting that exposes what happened to company money, damages for the lost value of the business or your stake in it, and court orders restraining further misconduct. Which remedy fits depends on whether the company is still worth saving.

For LLCs, Florida law lets a member ask a circuit court to dissolve the company on specific grounds, including that assets are being misappropriated or wasted and causing injury, that controlling members have acted or are reasonably expected to act illegally or fraudulently, that the owners are deadlocked and irreparable injury is threatened, or that it is no longer reasonably practicable to carry on the business under the operating agreement. In those proceedings the court may appoint a receiver or custodian or order a buyout of the petitioning member’s interest. An operating agreement with a deadlock sale provision can change the path, so the agreement needs close reading before filing.

For corporations, a shareholder petition for judicial dissolution can prompt the corporation or the other shareholders to elect to buy the petitioner’s shares at fair value. If the parties agree on value and terms within 60 days after the first election is filed, the court enters an order directing the purchase on those terms, and the corporation must notify the other shareholders within 30 days of the proceeding’s start that they can avoid dissolution by buying. During the case, a court can issue injunctions and appoint a receiver to preserve assets. Where the dispute involves jointly owned real estate rather than a company, a partition action may be the cleaner tool.

Many fiduciary disputes settle through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration once the other side sees the documents. Our attorneys pursue the route that gets you the result you need, whether that is a negotiated buyout, a structured wind-down, or a trial.

Questions Owners Ask About Fiduciary Duty Claims in Broward County

What is breach of fiduciary duty in a business setting?

It is a claim that someone who owed you or the company a duty of loyalty or care, such as a manager, officer, director, or partner, put his own interests first or fell below the standard of care and caused harm.

Do LLC members owe each other fiduciary duties in Florida?

It depends on the company’s structure and the operating agreement. Managers and controlling members commonly owe duties to the company and its members, but the scope can be shaped by the agreement and by who actually runs the business. Your documents and the facts of how the company operated both matter.

How long do I have to sue?

It depends on how the claim is framed. Claims founded on a written instrument have five years, oral or implied contract claims have four, fraud is generally four years from discovery with a 12 year outer cap, and negligence-based theories have two years for claims accruing after March 24, 2023. Do not rely on a single number without having an attorney review the facts.

Can I get an accounting if my partner will not show me the books?

Yes, an accounting is a common claim in these disputes. It asks the court to require the person who controlled the money to explain what came in, what went out, and where it went.

Can a court freeze company assets while the case is pending?

A court can enter injunctive relief to stop assets from being moved or spent, and in dissolution cases it can appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing. The judge will expect specific evidence that assets are at risk.

Which court hears these cases in Broward County?

Disputes above the county court ceiling go to the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit. Large business matters can be directed into the circuit’s complex business division, and some disputes belong in federal court depending on the parties and claims.

My operating agreement requires mediation or arbitration. Does that mean I cannot go to court?

Not necessarily. Many agreements still allow court action for emergency relief like injunctions, or the clause may be narrow. The language of your agreement controls, and it should be reviewed before you file anything.

What if the partner who took the money is also a family member?

The legal claims are the same, but the approach often differs. We handle family business disputes with discretion and look for resolutions that protect your finances, including negotiated buyouts, without needlessly escalating the conflict.

Can I bring a claim if I am a minority owner with no management role?

Often yes. Minority owners can bring claims when controlling owners or managers divert funds, engage in self-dealing, or freeze them out. Whether the claim belongs to you directly or to the company on its behalf affects how it must be pleaded.

I live in New York or New Jersey. Do I have to be in Florida for the case?

No. We regularly represent clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with South Florida business interests, handle local appearances, and keep you updated through calls and written communication.

Is it worth pursuing a claim if the amount missing is modest?

That depends on cost against recovery, the strength of the records, and whether the conduct is ongoing. We look at the budget and the goal honestly, and when a faster resolution through negotiation or mediation makes sense, we will say so.

Do you work with attorneys who have clients with Florida business disputes?

Yes. A significant part of our practice comes from referrals from other lawyers, and we communicate with referring counsel throughout the matter.

Serving Fiduciary Duty Clients Across Broward County and South Florida

Our work for Broward County owners reaches from Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood through Pembroke Pines, Miramar, Plantation, Sunrise, Davie, and Weston. We represent clients in Coral Springs, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Coconut Creek, Margate, Tamarac, Lauderhill, Lauderdale Lakes, Oakland Park, Wilton Manors, Dania Beach, Hallandale Beach, Cooper City, and Parkland as well.

Many Broward business disputes involve owners or assets across the county line, so we also serve clients in neighboring Palm Beach County, including Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, and West Palm Beach. Whether your company is in Broward, your partner lives elsewhere in South Florida, or you are an investor in New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut with an interest here, the team can handle the case from start to finish.

Speak With a Broward County Breach of Fiduciary Duty Lawyer

When a partner, manager, or co-owner has put your investment at risk, the earlier the records are preserved and the strategy is set, the more options you keep. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents owners and investors in fiduciary disputes throughout Broward County, and a Broward County breach of fiduciary duty lawyer from our team can review your agreement, your records, and the urgency of your situation.

Call us to schedule a consultation. We will tell you what the documents support, what the deadlines look like, and which path, whether negotiation, mediation, or court, is most likely to reach your goals.