Broward County Quiet Title Attorney

A quiet title case in Broward County is filed in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, in equity, and it ends with a judgment that tells the world who owns a piece of land. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team handles real estate litigation for owners, investors, and families across Broward and Palm Beach Counties, and a Broward County quiet title attorney from our firm can take on the competing claims, stale deeds, and clouded records that stop a property from being sold, financed, or passed on.

Most quiet title disputes start with something small on paper. A deed was never recorded. A former business partner still shows up in the chain of title. A relative claims an interest after a death. A lender or contractor recorded something that was never released. The owner may have lived on the property for years without trouble, until a buyer’s title company refuses to insure it.

The remedy is a lawsuit that forces every adverse claimant to come forward and have their claim decided by a judge. Once the court rules and the judgment is recorded, the cloud is gone. The sections below walk through how these cases unfold, what the court requires, and what you should be doing now.

How a Broward County Quiet Title Case Moves From Filing to Judgment

Florida’s chancery statute gives circuit courts jurisdiction over suits by anyone claiming legal or equitable title to land, including cases where two or more people claim the same land under a common title. A complaint can also ask the court to cancel a deed or other evidence of title held by someone who is not the rightful owner. Suit may be filed in any county where part of the land sits, so a Broward parcel is litigated in Broward.

The complaint must trace your title. The statute generally requires a plaintiff to deraign title for at least seven years before filing, unless the court orders otherwise. That means assembling the recorded chain of deeds, mortgages, satisfactions, and court orders and showing how ownership reached you. Gaps in that chain are often the whole dispute.

Next comes service. Every person who might claim an interest has to be named and notified, including heirs, lenders, former co-owners, and anyone whose name appears in the public records. When a defendant cannot be found, the case moves through constructive service procedures, which take longer and need careful documentation of the search effort.

Where the claim rests on an allegedly fraudulent attempted conveyance, Florida law allows a summary procedure and directs the court to advance the case on its calendar. That can shorten the timeline considerably. Many quiet title cases resolve by default, stipulation, or summary judgment. Contested ones, particularly those involving credibility and the history between the parties, can require an evidentiary hearing or trial. Our firm has taken a commercial real estate matter through a five-day bench trial in Broward County Circuit Court, which produced a 32-page final judgment for our client.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for Quiet Title Litigation

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team is a business and real estate litigation firm serving Broward County, Palm Beach County, and the rest of South Florida, including clients in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who own property here. We represent business owners, investors, and families in disputes over who owns what, and quiet title is a natural extension of that work because title fights so often grow out of failed partnerships, inheritances, and broken deals.

Andrew M. Schwartz, our founder, has spent 37 years in litigation and has practiced in Florida since being admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989. He holds an undergraduate degree from Emory University and a law degree from the University of Miami. Sundeep Nath, Senior Counsel, is a Northwestern-trained litigator with years of experience in business and real estate cases in state and federal courts. Together they handle partition actions, title disputes, quiet title actions, and the contract and partnership conflicts that often sit behind them.

The firm practices as a true legal team, so everyone working on your file knows it and can answer when you call. We keep a strict 24 hour return call policy. In a recent commercial real estate case we won specific performance after a five-day bench trial in Broward County Circuit Court. That experience matters in title work, where the outcome often turns on the exact wording of the instruments and the history of how the parties dealt with each other. We also handle mediation and arbitration, and we aim for the resolution that fits your goals and budget rather than a longer fight for its own sake.

Situations That Lead to Quiet Title Actions in Broward County

• Unrecorded or Defective Deeds: A deed that was signed but never recorded, was improperly witnessed or notarized, or contains an error in the legal description can leave record title in the wrong name. A quiet title suit asks the court to confirm the true owner.
• Former Business Partners and LLC Members: When a company dissolves or a partner exits, property can remain titled in the old entity or in an individual’s name. We often pair these suits with business divorce claims.
• Inherited Property and Competing Heirs: Siblings, stepfamilies, and distant relatives can each assert an interest after a death, especially when no probate was opened. Title can also be tangled where heirs hold property together and later disagree about its future.
• Adverse Possession Claims: Florida requires seven years of actual, continuous possession under a claim of title. Without color of title, the claimant must also file a return with the property appraiser that includes a full legal description. With color of title, the instrument must be recorded with the circuit court clerk. Either side of such a claim may need a court judgment to settle it.
• Old Liens, Mortgages, and Recorded Claims: Mortgages that were paid but never satisfied of record, contractor claims, and judgment liens can cloud title for years and block a sale or refinance.
• Fraudulent or Forged Conveyances: A transfer made by forgery, or by someone with no authority to convey, can be cancelled by the court. The summary procedure available for these claims can speed the case along.
• Competing Claims Under a Common Source: Two parties may each trace ownership to the same prior owner, through a double sale or overlapping conveyances. The court decides which claim prevails.
• Co-Owner Conflicts That Overlap With Partition: Some disputes need both a determination of who owns what share and a court-ordered division or sale. We handle partition actions and title disputes together.

What to Do Now If You Suspect a Cloud on Your Title

Start with the record. Order a title search or title commitment and read it closely. You want the full chain of conveyances, every recorded mortgage and lien, and any lis pendens, judgment, or claim that does not belong. The Broward County Clerk of Courts and the county’s official records are where these documents live, and a title company can pull them quickly.

Gather everything you hold: your deed, closing statement, survey, prior title policy, property tax records, and any correspondence with the person who contests your ownership. If someone else lived on or used the property, write down dates, who paid taxes and insurance, and what improvements were made. Possession history is central when adverse possession is involved.

Do not sign a quitclaim deed or release at someone else’s request until a lawyer has reviewed it. People give up valuable rights in a hurry to close a sale. Do not record your own corrective documents without advice either; a poorly drafted corrective deed can deepen the problem.

Watch the clock. Florida bars suits to recover real property unless the plaintiff or a predecessor was in possession within seven years before filing. Related claims carry their own limits: five years on actions founded on a written instrument, four years on fraud measured from discovery and capped at twelve, and one year on specific performance. Which period applies depends on how the claim is framed, so get the analysis early.

Quiet title cases in Broward are filed in the Circuit Civil Division of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit in Fort Lauderdale. When a title dispute grows out of a larger business breakup or large commercial dispute, the circuit’s complex business division may come into play under its filing procedures. If out-of-state litigation or federal issues are involved, the Southern District of Florida also sits in Fort Lauderdale. You do not need to be here for every hearing; we handle the court appearances and keep you informed.

Quiet Title, Partition, and Business Disputes: How They Connect

Clients often arrive thinking they have a quiet title problem when the underlying issue is something else. If you and a co-owner both hold valid title but disagree on what to do with the property, the answer is partition. Florida’s partition statute makes these actions equitable. The court can divide the land in kind or order it sold at public auction, with the proceeds divided in proportion to each owner’s interest. Court-appointed commissioners help decide whether division is practical, and a sale may be ordered on reasonable credit for good cause, with at least one-third paid down unless all parties agree otherwise.

Inherited property gets special treatment. Florida’s Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act applies to partition actions filed on or after July 1, 2020, and gives cotenants protections, including factors the court must weigh before ordering a sale. Whether a property qualifies as heirs property depends on how title is held and who the cotenants are.

Quiet title also overlaps with LLC and corporate disputes. A member who diverts company property, or a manager who deeds an asset to himself, may face both a title claim and a breach of fiduciary duty claim. Florida allows judicial dissolution of an LLC where assets are being misappropriated or wasted, or where members are deadlocked and irreparable injury is threatened, and courts can appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing. Where assets are at risk of being moved, we also seek injunctive relief to freeze the situation while the case proceeds.

Common Questions About Quiet Title Actions in Broward County

What is a quiet title action?

It is a lawsuit that asks a court to decide who owns real property and to remove competing claims from the record. The resulting judgment, once recorded, gives you title the market will accept.

How do I know if I need one?

Common signs include a title company refusing to insure, a buyer or lender backing out because of a record problem, a stranger or relative asserting ownership, or an old deed or lien that should have been released but was not.

Where is a Broward quiet title case filed?

In circuit court, in the county where the land sits. For Broward properties that is the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit. A suit may be filed in any county where part of the land is located.

Who has to be named as a defendant?

Anyone who might claim an interest: record owners, heirs, lienholders, former spouses or partners, and parties whose names appear in the chain of title. Missing a necessary party can leave the judgment incomplete.

How far back does the court look at my title?

Plaintiffs generally must trace title for at least seven years before filing, unless the court orders otherwise. In practice we often go further to find the break in the chain.

How long does a quiet title case take?

It depends on whether anyone contests it and how many parties must be served. Uncontested cases with locatable defendants move faster. Cases requiring constructive service or a trial take longer. Claims based on alleged fraudulent conveyances can use a summary procedure that speeds the calendar.

Can someone take my property by living on it?

Under Florida’s adverse possession statutes, a claimant must possess the property for seven years under a claim of title, and must meet additional filing and recording requirements depending on whether they have color of title. It is not automatic, and an owner who acts early can often stop it.

Is a quiet title case different from a partition case?

Yes. Quiet title decides who owns the property. Partition divides or sells property that several owners already hold. They sometimes appear together when ownership shares are disputed.

I live out of state. Do I have to come to Broward for hearings?

Generally not. We regularly represent clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with South Florida property, handle the local appearances, and keep you informed at each stage.

What if the person claiming my property is a family member or old business partner?

Those cases are common. We handle them with discretion, and where the relationship can be saved we look for a negotiated resolution, mediation, or a structured agreement before a trial. Where it cannot, we litigate the title.

Can I get emergency relief if someone is about to sell or encumber the property?

Possibly. Courts can issue temporary and permanent injunctions to stop a property from being transferred or encumbered while the dispute is pending, depending on the facts. Early action matters.

Does a lawsuit have to end in trial?

No. Many title disputes settle through negotiation, mediation, or a stipulated judgment. We pursue the route most likely to achieve your goals efficiently, and we are prepared to try the case when that is what it takes.

Serving Quiet Title Clients Across Broward County and South Florida

Our work in Broward County runs from Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood to Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Coral Springs, Parkland, and Plantation. We also represent owners in Sunrise, Davie, Weston, Pembroke Pines, Miramar, Coconut Creek, Margate, Tamarac, Lauderhill, Oakland Park, Wilton Manors, Lighthouse Point, and Dania Beach. Whether the property is a waterfront home near the Intracoastal, a commercial parcel along a major corridor, or a family house held by several heirs, the same title principles apply.

Many of our clients hold property or business interests in neighboring Palm Beach County as well, in Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Delray Beach, and the surrounding communities. Our reach extends throughout South Florida, and to clients in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with real estate here. Wherever you are, we handle the court work locally and coordinate with referring attorneys when another lawyer brought you to us.

Talk to a Broward County Quiet Title Lawyer About Your Property

A clouded title does not fix itself, and delay usually helps the person who is challenging your ownership. If you are dealing with a disputed deed, an old lien, an heir’s claim, or a partner who still appears in the chain of title, a Broward County quiet title lawyer can review the record and tell you what the court can do. Contact the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team to schedule a consultation. We return calls within 24 hours.