Broward County Real Estate Title Dispute Attorney

A deed that does not say what everyone assumed it said, a recorded claim nobody can explain, or a co-owner who suddenly asserts rights to your property can freeze a sale, a refinance, or an inheritance for years. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team handles business and real estate litigation for owners, investors, and families, and as a Broward County real estate title dispute attorney team we represent clients whose ownership is contested or clouded throughout Broward County and neighboring Palm Beach County.

Title disputes in Florida tend to follow a few recognizable paths. One party asks a court to declare who owns the land and wipe out competing claims. Another party, stuck in a shared ownership they no longer want, asks the court to split the property or sell it. Sometimes the fight is quieter: a former business partner’s name remains on a deed, a relative claims an interest through an old family transfer, or someone has been occupying a parcel for years and now says it belongs to them.

These cases move in stages, and the early stages matter most. The pleadings frame the ownership theory, the recorded documents become the backbone of the evidence, and the court often has to resolve who holds title before anything else about the property can happen. What follows explains how those stages typically unfold in Broward County and what you can do now to put yourself in the strongest position.

How Title Disputes Actually Unfold in Broward County Circuit Court

Real estate title cases in Broward are filed in the circuit court for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, which sits in and for Broward County. A quiet title complaint may be filed in any county where some part of the land lies, so a parcel that straddles a county line does not require you to guess the right venue. Florida’s quiet title statute gives the court authority over anyone claiming legal or equitable title to land, including cases where two or more people claim the same property through a common source of title, and it allows a plaintiff to ask that a deed or other recorded document be cancelled and the cloud removed.

Early in the case, the plaintiff generally has to trace the chain of ownership back at least seven years before filing, unless the court orders otherwise. That tracing, called deraigning title, is where many cases are won or lost. A gap in the chain, a deed that was never recorded, a forged or defective signature, or a transfer made by someone without authority will surface here. Where the dispute rests on an allegedly fraudulent attempted conveyance, Florida law allows the case to proceed under a summary procedure, and the court is directed to move it up the calendar.

Some disputes are tied to a business, such as a property held by an LLC whose members are fighting. When the underlying fight is about company control or dissolution, Broward’s Seventeenth Circuit has a complex business division that handles dissolution of certain business entities and large business and construction disputes. A case can be filed directly into that division using the required form at the time of filing, and the clerk then assigns it by random draw. Whether your title case belongs there depends on how entangled it is with the business dispute. Federal court is a less common venue; the Southern District of Florida sits in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, and a title case lands there only when a federal jurisdictional basis exists.

Why Owners and Investors Bring Title Problems to the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team

The Andrew M. Andrew M. Schwartz, the firm’s founder, has spent 37 years in litigation, was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989, and has practiced exclusively in South Florida, with a career built on complex contract disputes, business divorces, and conflicts among partners, LLC members, and shareholders. He earned his undergraduate degree from Emory University in 1986 and his law degree from the University of Miami in 1989. Sundeep Nath, Senior Counsel, is a Northwestern-trained litigator with years of experience in business and real estate cases in state and federal courts.

That background fits title work because so many title disputes are really ownership disputes between people who used to be partners, relatives, or co-investors. The firm practices as a true legal team, so everyone working on your file knows it, and a strict 24 hour return call policy applies when the attorneys are in court. Clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who hold Broward property regularly retain the firm, and we handle the local court appearances so they are not traveling for every hearing. Many matters also reach us as referrals from other lawyers, including out of state counsel whose clients have Florida property problems.

Results in this area turn on documents and on preparation, and the firm’s recent record reflects it. After a 5-day bench trial in Broward County Circuit Court, the judge issued a 32-page final judgment awarding our client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. We are also experienced in mediation and arbitration, and we look for the resolution that fits the client’s goals and budget rather than prolonging a case for its own sake. No attorney can guarantee a result, but we prepare every file as if it will be tried.

Common Title and Ownership Disputes We Handle

• Quiet Title Actions: A lawsuit asking the court to declare who owns the property and extinguish competing claims, often used when an old deed, lien, or recorded instrument clouds an otherwise clean ownership.
• Partition Actions: Used when co-owners cannot agree on what to do with shared real estate. The court can divide the property or, when that would prejudice the owners, order a sale and split the proceeds in proportion to their interests.
• Heirs Property Disputes: Property held in common among relatives who inherited it is subject to special partition rules, including protections designed to keep family land from being forced into a quick sale.
• Former Business Partner Claims: A partner or LLC member whose name remains on a deed, or who claims the property belongs to the company, creates a title problem that is really a business divorce.
• Fraudulent or Defective Conveyances: Forged signatures, transfers made without authority, and deeds procured through misrepresentation can be challenged and cancelled.
• Adverse Possession Claims: Someone who has occupied land openly and exclusively for seven years may claim ownership, either with or without a recorded instrument, and owners need to know how to respond before that clock runs.
• Failed Closings and Purchase Contract Disputes: When a buyer or seller refuses to close, the remedy may be damages or specific performance, and competing claims to the property often follow.
• Unmarried Co-Owners and Investor Splits: People who bought together without a clear exit plan frequently need the court to sort out contributions, occupancy, and sale.

What to Do and Where to Go When Your Title Is in Question

Start by collecting every document that touches the property: deeds, closing statements, mortgage and loan papers, title insurance policies, surveys, prior wills or trust instruments if the property came through family, and any agreements between co-owners or business partners. Pull the recorded documents from the public records and note anything you do not recognize. A recorded instrument you never signed, or a name on title that should not be there, is the kind of fact that shapes the entire case.

Do not sell, refinance, or transfer the property on the assumption the problem will resolve itself, and do not sign anything from the other side without review. If someone is occupying the property, living in it, collecting rent from it, or making improvements, document it with dates and photographs, because possession is central in several theories of ownership. If you are the one occupying someone else’s land, understand that Florida bars a suit to recover real property unless the owner or a predecessor was in possession within seven years before the suit, and that adverse possession has strict statutory requirements, including recorded instruments for color of title claims and a sworn return with a full legal description when a claim is made without color of title.

Deadlines depend on the claim. A written contract claim carries a five-year period, an oral contract claim four years, a fraud claim four years from discovery with an outer cap of 12 years, and specific performance only one year. Those periods do not all start the same way, so waiting to see whether a dispute settles can quietly forfeit a claim. A one-year window for specific performance is short enough that it can expire while you are still negotiating.

Broward cases are heard at the Central Judicial Complex in Fort Lauderdale, with regional courthouses in Deerfield Beach, Hollywood, and Plantation handling county civil matters. Claims above the county court threshold belong in circuit court, and title and partition cases are equitable actions that belong there. If emergency relief is needed because someone is about to sell, encumber, or strip a property, a motion for a temporary injunction can be filed along with the complaint. Contact an attorney before any of those steps are taken, because the order in which things happen affects what the court can do.

Partition in Broward: Division, Sale, and Family Property

Partition is the most common way a title dispute between co-owners ends. A partition complaint must describe the land, identify the owners and where they live, and state each owner’s share. If the court orders partition, it appoints three commissioners, chosen by the parties if they agree, to determine whether the land can be divided fairly. When the commissioners report that division would prejudice the owners, the court can order a sale at public auction, and the proceeds are divided according to each owner’s interest. If the court allows a sale on credit for good cause, at least one-third of the purchase price must be paid up front unless everyone agrees otherwise.

Family-inherited property is treated differently. Florida’s Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act applies to cases filed on or after July 1, 2020, and covers property held in common where at least one cotenant took title from a relative and additional conditions are met, such as twenty percent or more of the interests being held by relatives. If a court finds the property is heirs property, it must follow that Act unless every cotenant agrees otherwise in writing. The Act changes the practical landscape: a partition in kind cannot be entered unless the commissioners considered the statutory factors and found that dividing the land would prejudice the cotenants as a group. For siblings who inherited a house or lot together, that framework can slow a forced sale and open room for buyouts.

When the Title Fight Is Really a Business Fight

Many Broward title disputes sit on top of a business dispute. If an LLC owns the property, Florida law allows members or managers to seek judicial dissolution on specific grounds, including that assets are being misappropriated or wasted, that controlling members have acted or are expected to act illegally or fraudulently, that carrying on the business under the operating agreement is not reasonably practicable, or that the owners are deadlocked and irreparable injury is threatened. In a dissolution proceeding the court can appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing, or order a purchase of a petitioning member’s interest. If the operating agreement contains a deadlock sale provision that is properly initiated before the court finds deadlock grounds exist, that provision can displace dissolution.

For corporations, a shareholder petition for dissolution can trigger a buyout election, in which the corporation or other shareholders may elect to purchase 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. Because the underlying real estate is often the main asset, resolving the business case and the title case together can save time and cost.

Questions Broward Property Owners Ask About Title Disputes

What is a quiet title action?

It is a lawsuit asking a court to determine who owns a piece of real property and to eliminate competing claims. A judgment can cancel a deed or other recorded instrument and remove the cloud it created.

Where can a quiet title case be filed?

In any county where some part of the land lies. For property in Broward County, that means the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, which sits in and for Broward County.

How far back does title have to be traced?

A plaintiff generally must trace the chain of title for at least seven years before filing, unless the court orders otherwise. Gaps and defects in that chain are often the heart of the dispute.

Can a co-owner force the sale of our property?

Yes, through a partition action. The court may divide the property if that can be done fairly, or order it sold and split the proceeds in proportion to each owner’s interest. Special rules apply when the property qualifies as heirs property.

How does a partition case work with inherited family property?

Florida’s heirs property law gives relatives holding inherited land additional protection. The court must follow that statute when its definition is met, and a partition in kind cannot be entered without a finding that division would prejudice the owners as a group.

How long do I have to sue over a contract to buy or sell real estate?

A claim founded on a written contract has a five-year period. A claim to compel a seller to close, which is specific performance, must be brought within one year. These periods are different, and the shorter one can be lost while parties are still negotiating.

Can someone take my land by living on it?

Possibly. Adverse possession in Florida requires seven years of actual, continuous possession under a claim of title, plus statutory steps. Without a recorded instrument supporting the claim, the person must file a sworn return with a full legal description. An owner who acts before the period runs can usually defeat the claim.

My former business partner is still on the deed. What are my options?

That depends on the agreements between you and how the property was acquired. Options can include a negotiated buyout or transfer, a claim under the operating or partnership agreement, a quiet title action, or partition if you are co-owners. Because it overlaps with the business, the right path often involves both a title claim and a business divorce analysis.

Can I get a court order to stop a sale while the dispute is pending?

A court can issue temporary injunctive relief to prevent property from being sold, encumbered, or transferred while the case is decided. These requests are time sensitive and are typically filed with or shortly after the complaint.

Do I have to go to trial to resolve a title dispute?

No. Many are resolved through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, and our attorneys have experience in all of them. Some cases, particularly those with real ownership conflicts and little room to compromise, do need a judge to decide.

I own Broward property but live in New York or New Jersey. Can you handle this?

Yes. We regularly represent clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with property in South Florida, keep them informed at each stage, and handle the local hearings and proceedings.

How long does a Broward title case take?

It depends on whether the ownership facts are contested and whether the case is tied to a larger business dispute. Cases involving a clear defect in a recorded document can move faster, while those requiring a full trial on competing ownership theories take longer. A frank assessment at the outset of the case should address that.

Serving Real Estate Title Clients Across Broward and Palm Beach Counties

Our work for Broward County property owners spans the county’s coastal and inland communities, from Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood to Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Coral Springs, and Plantation. We represent owners in Sunrise, Davie, Weston, Pembroke Pines, Miramar, Coconut Creek, Margate, Tamarac, Lauderhill, Oakland Park, Hallandale Beach, and Cooper City, along with neighboring areas that draw investors and second-home buyers.

Because many Broward owners also hold interests across the county line, we serve clients in neighboring Palm Beach County as well, including Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, West Palm Beach, and the surrounding communities. Whether your property is a single-family home in a Broward suburb, an investment parcel, or a commercial building held through a company, we handle the title, partition, and ownership disputes that arise, and we work with out of state clients in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who own property in South Florida.

Talk With a Broward County Title Dispute Lawyer About Your Property

If you are facing a clouded deed, a co-owner who wants out, or a competing claim to property you believe is yours, our Broward County title dispute lawyer team can review your documents and explain which claims and defenses are available. We would rather identify the right approach early, whether that is a negotiated resolution or a filing in court, than watch a deadline pass.

Call the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team to schedule a consultation. We will look at the recorded history of the property, the agreements between the parties, and your goals, and tell you plainly what we think the next step should be.