Coconut Creek Business Attorney

The goal in most business disputes is simple to state and hard to reach: keep the company, the investment, or the property intact, or get out of a shared arrangement on fair terms. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team is a business litigation and real estate firm that serves owners, investors, and families in Coconut Creek, throughout Broward County, and across Palm Beach County and the rest of South Florida. If you are looking for a Coconut Creek business attorney, you are probably dealing with a partner who has stopped cooperating, a contract that one side is no longer honoring, money that cannot be accounted for, or a property that co-owners cannot agree on.

Coconut Creek sits in northern Broward County, so a lawsuit filed over a local business or property generally lands in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit. That is a different court system from the Fifteenth Circuit, which covers Palm Beach County just to the north, and the distinction matters when a business has owners, bank accounts, or real estate on both sides of the county line. Knowing which court will hear the case, and what each one offers, shapes strategy from the first day.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for Business Disputes Near Coconut Creek

The Andrew M. Founder Andrew M. Schwartz was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989 and has spent 37 years in litigation, with a career built around 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. Senior Counsel Sundeep Nath, a Northwestern-trained litigator, brings years of experience in business and real estate cases in both state and federal courts.

The firm practices as a true legal team, meaning everyone working on your matter knows the file and can answer when you call. There is a strict 24 hour return call policy when the attorneys are in court, and conference calls are scheduled at times that work for everyone involved. Andrew Schwartz tells clients something that tends to surprise them: most people walk in wanting a hyper-aggressive lawyer, but what they actually want is someone who acts as the situation requires and uses finesse when finesse will do, at a cost that makes sense against what is at stake.

The firm’s trial work backs that up. After a 5-day bench trial in Broward County Circuit Court, the court issued a 32-page final judgment awarding the firm’s client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. That outcome reflects the kind of detailed, document-driven preparation these cases demand. The attorneys are also experienced in mediation and arbitration, so a dispute that can be resolved without a full trial is not dragged into one.

Business and Real Estate Disputes a Coconut Creek Business Lawyer Handles

• Business Divorce: Co-owners who can no longer work together may need a negotiated buyout, a sale, a structured wind-down, or court-ordered dissolution. Deadlocked management and valuation fights are the usual sticking points.
• Partnership, LLC Member, and Shareholder Disputes: Breaches of operating and shareholder agreements, freeze-outs of minority owners, and disagreements over who contributed what and how profits are split.
• Breach of Fiduciary Duty: Managers, partners, and controlling owners owe duties to the company and to the other owners. Self-dealing, diverted opportunities, and secret compensation are common allegations.
• Missing Funds and Accounting Claims: Unpaid distributions, commingled accounts, disputed capital contributions, and partners who cannot explain where company money went. Emergency relief may be available to stop assets from being moved.
• Complex Contract Litigation: Purchase agreements, operating agreements, commercial leases, loan documents, and construction contracts. These cases tend to turn on exact wording and the parties’ history of dealing with each other.
• Partition Actions and Title Disputes: Co-owners of real estate who cannot agree can ask the court to divide the property or order its sale. Quiet title actions clear up competing ownership claims.
• Family Business Conflicts: Siblings who inherited a company, parents and children with different visions, or spouses and in-laws who share ownership, where control and compensation are at issue.
• Temporary and Permanent Injunctions: Court orders that preserve company assets, protect real property, or stop harmful conduct while the dispute plays out.

What to Do When a Business Relationship Breaks Down

The first move is to stop and gather documents before anyone changes access. Pull the articles of organization or incorporation, the operating agreement or shareholder agreement, tax returns, bank and credit card statements, financial statements, loan documents, and any emails or texts in which the owners discussed money, authority, or the future of the company. Preserve them. If a partner controls the books, make a record now of what you can still see, because access sometimes disappears quickly once a dispute becomes open.

Next, read your agreement closely before you say anything to the other owner. Many operating agreements contain buyout formulas, expulsion or dissociation provisions, notice requirements, mandatory mediation or arbitration clauses, and deadlock sale mechanisms. Those clauses can control the process. For example, if an LLC’s operating agreement has a deadlock sale provision that gets started before a court finds that deadlock grounds exist, that provision generally applies instead of a judicial dissolution order. A hasty email or an ill-timed lawsuit can change which path you are on.

Watch the clock. Florida’s limitations periods vary by the type of claim. An action founded on a written contract has five years. A contract claim that is oral or implied has four, as does an action to rescind a contract. Fraud is four years from discovery, capped at 12 years. A professional malpractice claim, such as against an accountant or other professional who handled your company’s affairs, has two years running from when it was or should have been discovered. Negligence is two years for claims that accrued after March 24, 2023. An action for specific performance, which is what forces a party to complete a contract rather than pay damages, has a one-year period. That last one catches people off guard in real estate deals that fall apart at closing.

Where you file depends on the size of the dispute and the type of relief. In Florida, county courts hear claims in the middle range, small claims remain at the lowest tier, and circuit courts hear everything above the county court ceiling along with matters like injunctions, dissolutions, partitions, and quiet title actions, which belong in equity. A Coconut Creek business dispute of any real size typically belongs in the Circuit Court of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit in and for Broward County, with hearings at the North Regional Courthouse in Deerfield Beach, the Central Judicial Complex in Fort Lauderdale, or another Broward courthouse depending on assignment. The Seventeenth Circuit also has a complex business division that handles dissolutions of certain business entities and large business and construction litigation, and a case can be filed directly into it under the circuit’s administrative order. If the company or property is in Palm Beach County, the Fifteenth Circuit and its courthouse in West Palm Beach come into play, and federal claims go to the Southern District of Florida, which sits in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.

The most common mistakes are predictable. Owners confront the partner by text or email and create evidence that gets used against them. They stop paying obligations the agreement requires them to keep paying. They move money or change locks without authority. And they wait, hoping the problem resolves itself, while the partner continues to drain accounts or the filing window narrows. A short consultation with a Coconut Creek business litigation attorney before you act is usually inexpensive compared to the cost of an avoidable misstep.

How Florida Law Treats Dissolution, Buyouts, and Co-Owned Property

When owners are stuck, Florida’s statutes offer more than a choice between staying and fighting. For an LLC, a circuit court can order dissolution on a member’s or manager’s petition on specific grounds: the company’s activities are being conducted unlawfully; it is not reasonably practicable to operate in line with the articles and operating agreement; controlling members or managers have acted or are expected to act illegally or fraudulently; assets are being misappropriated or wasted to the company’s injury; or the owners are deadlocked, cannot break the deadlock, and irreparable injury to the company is threatened or occurring. In those proceedings, a court that sees sufficient merit can appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing, or can order the company or other members to buy out the petitioning member’s interest instead of dissolving.

For corporations, the shareholder remedies run on a similar track. A circuit court can dissolve a corporation or order another remedy, including where the business has been abandoned and not wound up within a reasonable time. A key feature is the buyout election: in many shareholder-initiated dissolution cases, the corporation or the other shareholders can elect to purchase the petitioner’s shares at fair value, and if the parties agree on value and terms within 60 days after the first election is filed, the court enters an order on those terms. Once made, an election to buy is irrevocable unless the court finds it equitable to set it aside or modify it. The corporation must also notify the other shareholders, within 30 days of the filing, that they can avoid dissolution by electing to purchase. Throughout the case, the court can issue injunctions, appoint a receiver or custodian, and take other steps to preserve corporate assets.

Real estate disputes follow their own rules. A partition action is filed in equity, and the complaint must describe the land, name the owners and where they live, and state what each holds. If the court orders partition, it appoints three commissioners, chosen by the court unless the parties agree. When the commissioners report that dividing the land would prejudice the owners, the court may order a sale at public auction and divide the proceeds in proportion to each owner’s interest. Where a court orders a sale on credit for good cause, at least one-third of the purchase money must be paid down unless everyone consents otherwise. Inherited property is handled differently. Florida’s Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act applies to partition cases filed on or after July 1, 2020, where the land is held as tenants in common, an owner acquired title from a relative, and further statutory conditions are met, including that twenty percent or more of the interests are held by relatives. If the property qualifies, it must be partitioned under that law unless every cotenant agrees otherwise, and a partition in kind cannot be ordered unless the court is satisfied the commissioners weighed the statutory factors and found a physical division would prejudice the cotenants as a group.

Quiet title actions work differently. A plaintiff claiming legal or equitable title can ask the court to settle ownership, or to cancel a deed or other document that clouds title when someone who is not the rightful owner holds it. The suit can be filed in any county where part of the land sits, and the plaintiff must trace title back at least seven years before filing unless the court orders otherwise. Where the claim rests on a fraudulent attempted conveyance, summary procedure is available and the court is directed to advance the case on its calendar. Related timing rules apply to adverse possession, which requires seven years of continuous possession under the statutory conditions, and to actions to recover real property, which are barred unless the plaintiff or a predecessor held possession within seven years before filing.

Questions Coconut Creek Owners Ask About Business Litigation

What is a business divorce?

It is the separation of co-owners of a company, whether they are partners, LLC members, or shareholders. It can end in a negotiated buyout, a sale of the business, a structured wind-down, or court-ordered dissolution if the owners cannot agree.

Can I force a partner out of my Florida LLC?

That depends on your operating agreement and what the partner has done. Many agreements include buyout, expulsion, or dissociation provisions, and Florida’s LLC statute gives a court tools when the company cannot function or a member has engaged in serious misconduct. An attorney needs to read your agreement before you take any step.

What can I do if a partner is taking money from the business?

You may have claims for breach of fiduciary duty, an accounting, conversion, and recovery of the funds. When assets are at risk of being moved or spent, a court can issue injunctive relief while the case is pending, and in a dissolution case it can appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing.

How long do I have to sue over a broken contract?

For a written contract, five years. For an oral or implied contract, four years. Rescission is four years. If you are asking a court to force completion of a contract, such as a real estate sale, the specific performance period is only one year, so that claim should not wait.

Does every business dispute have to go to court?

No. Many are resolved through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, and some operating agreements require it. The firm’s attorneys are experienced in those processes as well as courtroom litigation, and they pursue the path most likely to meet your goals efficiently.

How does a partition action work if I co-own property with a former partner?

Either owner can ask the court to divide the property or, if division is impractical, to order it sold and the proceeds split by ownership share. The court appoints commissioners to evaluate whether the property can be divided without prejudice to the owners. These cases are common among former business partners, siblings, and unmarried co-owners.

Is a deadlock sale clause in my agreement enforceable?

Florida’s statutes recognize deadlock sale provisions in both LLC operating agreements and shareholder agreements. For an LLC, a provision that is initiated before a court determines deadlock grounds exist generally takes the place of a judicial dissolution order, provided it is then carried through. The wording of the clause and the timing of when it is invoked can decide the outcome, so get it reviewed before triggering it.

Can I file my case in Palm Beach County if my business is in Coconut Creek?

Venue depends on where the defendant resides, where the cause of action arose, and where the property is located, and for quiet title or partition it follows the land. A Coconut Creek business is in Broward County, but a dispute can involve parties, accounts, or real estate in Palm Beach County as well. The firm serves both counties and can advise which court is the proper forum.

What if my partner lives out of state, or I do?

The firm regularly represents clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who own businesses or real estate in South Florida, and it handles the local court appearances so out of state owners do not have to travel for every hearing. The same applies when the other owner is the one who lives elsewhere.

Is it worth hiring a lawyer before a dispute turns into a lawsuit?

Often, yes. Reviewing an operating agreement, handling a buyout negotiation, or sending a properly framed demand can resolve a conflict before it becomes expensive litigation. The firm also offers outside general counsel services, including acting as a company’s registered agent and helping with contract, compliance, and operational questions, which can keep a disagreement from escalating.

Do you work with other attorneys on referred cases?

Yes. A significant part of the firm’s practice comes from referrals by other lawyers, including out of state attorneys whose clients have Florida disputes and Florida attorneys who do not handle business litigation. The firm communicates with referring counsel throughout and respects the referring lawyer’s relationship with the client.

Serving Business Owners and Property Co-Owners Across Broward and Palm Beach Counties

Coconut Creek is our starting point, but business disputes do not respect city limits. From Coconut Creek, the firm represents owners and investors in neighboring Coral Springs, Margate, Parkland, Tamarac, and Pompano Beach, and throughout Broward County in Deerfield Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Plantation, Sunrise, Hollywood, Davie, Weston, and Lauderhill. Just north in Palm Beach County, we serve clients in Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, Wellington, and Royal Palm Beach.

We also represent clients who live in New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut and hold a stake in a South Florida business or building, and the firm serves South Florida as a whole.

Speak With a Coconut Creek Business Litigation Attorney

If a partner, co-owner, or contract counterparty has put your company, your investment, or your property at risk, talk to a Coconut Creek business litigation attorney at the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team before the situation hardens. Call to discuss your case. The conversation will help you understand which deadlines apply, whether your agreement points to a particular path, and whether a negotiated resolution or a court filing makes more sense. We answer the phone, and when we are in court we return calls within 24 hours.