Broward County Partition Action Attorney

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents co-owners of real estate in Broward County who are stuck with each other: former business partners holding a building, siblings who inherited a house, unmarried couples who bought together, and investors who want out of a shared deal. If you need a Broward County partition action attorney, the first thing to understand is that Florida gives a co-owner a way out. You do not need your co-owner’s permission to leave the arrangement, and a judge can either divide the property or order it sold.

That sounds simple, and sometimes it is. But most partition cases are not really about the right to partition. They are about what happens next: who gets credit for the mortgage payments and repairs, whether the property gets split physically or sold, who is allowed to bid, how fast the money moves, and whether a relative is quietly living in the house rent-free while the case drags on. The firm handles these disputes for clients throughout Broward County and neighboring Palm Beach County.

How a Florida Partition Case Actually Moves Through the Court

Partition actions in Florida are equity cases governed by Chapter 64 of the Florida Statutes. The complaint has to describe the land, name each owner and where they live, and state how much each person holds. Getting the ownership picture right at the start matters, because a missing owner or a misdescribed share can stall the case or leave the result open to challenge later.

Once the court finds that partition is proper, it enters a judgment and appoints three commissioners, who are chosen by the court unless the parties agree on them. The commissioners look at whether the property can be divided fairly. If they report that a division would harm the owners, and the judge agrees, the court can order the land sold at public auction to the highest bidder and split the proceeds in proportion to each owner’s interest. The court can also allow a sale on credit for good cause, but at least one-third of the purchase price must be paid up front unless every party agrees otherwise.

Most Broward properties, from a condo in Pompano Beach to a duplex in Hollywood to a commercial building along the Federal Highway corridor, cannot sensibly be cut in half. That is why most partition cases end in a sale, whether through court order or through a negotiated sale that the parties reach once they see where the case is headed. A good deal of our work is finding the point where a co-owner who was refusing to budge decides a buyout or private sale beats an auction.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for Partition Disputes

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents business owners, investors, and families in South Florida’s difficult business and real estate disputes, serving clients in Broward County, Palm Beach County, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, and West Palm Beach. 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. Joining him is Senior Counsel Sundeep Nath, a Northwestern-trained litigator with years of experience in business and real estate cases in state and federal courts.

Partition work sits where the firm’s two core practices overlap. Many partition cases begin as business disputes: a partnership dissolves and the real estate it owned becomes the last thing left to fight over. The firm’s background in business divorce, partner and member disputes, and real estate litigation means we can see the whole picture, including claims for an accounting, breach of fiduciary duty, and diverted funds that often travel alongside the partition claim.

The firm practices as a true legal team, so everyone working on your matter knows the file. There is a strict 24 hour return call policy when we are in court or otherwise unavailable. We are experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as courtroom litigation, and we aim for the resolution that serves your goals and your budget rather than stretching a case out for its own sake. In November 2024, the firm reported a final judgment after a 5-day bench trial in Broward County Circuit Court, a 32-page order granting our client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. That is the kind of record-heavy, detail-driven real estate trial work that partition and title cases can also demand.

Situations That Lead Broward Co-Owners to File for Partition

• Former Business Partners Holding Property: When a company that owned a building, land, or rental units falls apart, the real estate often stays titled in the partners’ names or in an entity they can no longer manage together. Partition, sometimes combined with LLC dissolution claims, is how the asset gets liquidated.
• Siblings and Relatives Who Inherited Together: A parent’s Broward home passes to several children, one wants to sell, one wants to keep it, and one lives there. Florida has a special framework for this, the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act in Part II of Chapter 64, which applies when relatives hold property as tenants in common and certain conditions are met, including that 20 percent or more of the interests are held by relatives.
• Unmarried Couples: Couples who bought a home together without marrying have no divorce court to sort out the property. Partition is often the only mechanism to force a sale and divide the proceeds when the relationship ends.
• Investors in Shared Real Estate: Co-investors in a rental property, a vacant parcel, or a small commercial building sometimes want out on different timelines. If the deal has no buy-sell terms, a partition action may be the exit.
• Out-of-State Owners: Clients in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut often hold a share of a Broward condo or investment property with a co-owner who lives here and controls it. We handle the local filings and appearances so you do not have to fly down for each hearing.
• Co-Owners Who Will Not Pay or Cooperate: One owner carries the mortgage, taxes, and insurance while another contributes nothing or collects rent. Those facts shape how the court adjusts the final split.
• Title Clouds That Block a Clean Sale: Competing ownership claims, old conveyances, or disputed deeds can derail a partition. A quiet title action, which a Florida court can hear to cancel a conveyance or remove a cloud on title, may need to be resolved alongside or before the sale.

What to Do Before You File or After You Are Served

Start by pulling together the documents that define who owns what: the deed or deeds, any LLC operating agreement or partnership agreement that governs the property, the closing statement, and any written agreement between the co-owners about buying, selling, or living in the property. If an agreement already says how a disagreement gets resolved, or contains a buyout mechanism, that can change the whole strategy, including whether partition is even the right tool.

Next, assemble your financial record. Mortgage statements, property tax bills, homeowners and flood insurance payments, repair invoices, and records of rent collected or rent-free occupancy all matter, because the court in a partition case can account for what each owner put in and took out. People often lose money in these cases simply because they cannot document what they paid. If you suspect a co-owner has been taking rent or draining an account tied to the property, say so early, because that may support separate claims and, in urgent situations, a request for emergency injunctive relief.

Broward partition cases are filed in the Circuit Court of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, which sits in and for Broward County. Because a partition action concerns land, it is tied to where the property sits, and cases are handled out of the circuit civil division at the Central Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale. The Seventeenth Circuit also runs a complex business division that handles things like dissolution of certain business entities, and a case that combines partnership dissolution with real estate may belong there. If your dispute involves a deadlocked LLC or corporation that owns the property, it is worth discussing which track fits before filing.

If you have been served with a partition complaint, do not ignore it and do not assume you will simply lose your share. You have the right to respond, assert credits and offsets, argue for a division in kind or for a buyout, and, if the property qualifies as heirs property, invoke the added protections that framework provides. A common mistake is moving out, stopping payments, or agreeing informally to a sale price without any paperwork. Each of those can hurt your position. Another is waiting too long, because other claims tied to the same relationship, such as written-contract claims that carry a five-year limitations period, run on their own clocks.

Partition, Buyouts, and the Alternatives Worth Weighing

Partition is a blunt instrument. An auction can produce a lower price than a negotiated sale, and the process costs time and money for everyone. So we always look at what else might work. A voluntary sale on agreed terms often nets more for all owners. A buyout, where one owner purchases the others’ shares at an agreed or appraised value, keeps the property in the family or the business. Mediation can help when the dispute is as much emotional as financial, and these are exactly the conflicts mediation tends to suit.

When the property is held through an entity, the analysis changes. A co-owner of an LLC or corporation generally cannot partition the entity’s real estate, because the entity, not the individual owners, holds title. In those cases the remedy may be judicial dissolution. For an LLC, a Florida court can dissolve the company on grounds that include deadlock between members with irreparable injury, misappropriation or waste of assets, or the impracticability of carrying on under the operating agreement. For a corporation, a shareholder can seek dissolution and the corporation or other shareholders can elect to buy the petitioner out at fair value. Sorting out whether you own the property personally or through an entity is one of the first things we do.

Partition Action Questions Broward Property Owners Ask

Can one co-owner force a sale of Broward property over the objection of the others?

Generally, yes. A co-owner of real property has the right to seek partition, and the court can order the property divided or sold. The court does not require every owner to agree. What the court considers is how to divide the property or proceeds fairly, which is where the real disputes usually lie.

Will the property be divided physically or sold?

Florida law favors a fair division where it is practical, but most homes, condos, and small commercial buildings cannot be divided without harming their value. When the court-appointed commissioners report that division would prejudice the owners, the court can order a sale at public auction and split the proceeds by ownership share.

Who decides the value of the property?

In a negotiated resolution, the owners can agree on a price or use appraisals. If the case goes the court route, the property is generally sold at auction to the highest bidder, with the sale price setting what is divided. This is one reason many co-owners prefer to reach a private deal before an auction decides the outcome.

Do I get credit for mortgage, tax, and repair payments I made alone?

Often you can, but only if you can prove them. Courts can account for what each owner contributed and took out, including rent collected by one owner. Keep every statement, receipt, and bank record, because the strength of your documentation directly affects how the proceeds are divided.

What is heirs property, and does it change the process?

Heirs property is real estate held as tenants in common where there is no binding agreement on partition, at least one owner acquired title from a relative, and further conditions are met, such as relatives holding 20 percent or more of the interests. In that case the court applies the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act, which adds protections, including a requirement that the court consider specific factors before ordering a division in kind.

Can a partition action be filed if the property is owned by an LLC?

Not usually by an individual member. If an LLC holds title, the entity owns the property, and members generally pursue remedies against the entity, such as judicial dissolution or a court-ordered buyout, rather than partition of the real estate itself.

How long does a partition case take in Broward County?

It depends on how contested it is. A case where the owners agree on the outcome can resolve relatively quickly, while a fight over ownership shares, credits, or title can take considerably longer. A cloud on title or a related business dispute adds time because those issues may need to be resolved first or alongside.

What if my co-owner is living in the property and refusing to leave or pay rent?

That occupancy can be raised in the partition case, and the court may account for it when dividing proceeds. If a co-owner is acting to harm the property or move assets, emergency injunctive relief may be available while the case is pending. Document who lives there, who pays what, and any rent being collected.

Is there a deadline to bring a partition claim?

Partition itself does not carry a short fuse the way many other claims do, but related claims can. A claim founded on a written agreement generally has a five-year limitations period, a claim on an oral agreement has four years, and a suit to recover real property can be barred where the claimant has not been in possession within seven years. Because those periods run separately, raise the issue early.

I live in New York or New Jersey. Do I have to come to Florida?

Not for every hearing. We regularly represent clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who own interests in South Florida property, handling the local court appearances and keeping you informed at each stage of the case.

Do I need a lawyer if my co-owner and I mostly agree?

It is still worth having counsel review the deal. Partial agreements often leave gaps on credits, closing costs, and who handles the sale, and those gaps turn into disputes later. A written, enforceable agreement is far cheaper than litigation over an informal one.

Broward County Partition Representation Across South Florida

Our work for Broward County co-owners covers the length of the county, from the coastal communities of Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Hollywood, and Hallandale Beach, to inland cities such as Plantation, Sunrise, Davie, Coral Springs, Parkland, Coconut Creek, Margate, Tamarac, Lauderhill, Pembroke Pines, and Miramar. We also help owners in Deerfield Beach, Oakland Park, Wilton Manors, and Cooper City, and those who hold property in Weston and Southwest Ranches.

The firm also serves clients in neighboring Palm Beach County, including Boca Raton and West Palm Beach, and in the New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut communities where many of our out-of-state clients live. Whether the property is a family home, a rental, or a commercial building, we handle partition, title, and related business disputes wherever your co-owner and your property happen to be.

Talk With a Broward County Partition Attorney

If you are tied to a co-owner you cannot work with, you have more options than staying stuck. A Broward County partition attorney at the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can review your deed, any agreements between you and your co-owners, and your financial records, then explain whether partition, a buyout, a negotiated sale, or a different remedy fits your situation. Call us to schedule a consultation and learn where you stand before you decide how to proceed.