Coconut Creek Family Business Dispute Attorney

Coconut Creek sits in Broward County, which means a lawsuit between relatives who own a company together is heard by the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, a court that has set aside a complex business division for certain entity disputes. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team is a business litigation and real estate firm that handles these cases for owners in Coconut Creek and across Broward and Palm Beach Counties. If you need a Coconut Creek family business dispute attorney, the firm represents siblings, parents, children, spouses, in-laws, and longtime friends who own companies or property together and can no longer agree on how to run them.

A family business dispute is not the same thing as an ordinary commercial case, and it is not a divorce or an estate fight either, though it often borrows from both. The people across the table are people you eat holiday dinners with. They may have worked beside you for decades without ever signing a clear agreement. The legal questions are still the ones that govern any company: who controls it, who is owed what, what the documents say, and whether someone has been treating the business as a personal account.

That mix is why these disputes escalate quickly. A parent steps back and a child takes over. A sibling inherits a share and expects a seat at the table. A brother draws a salary that his sister never approved. Each grievance feels personal, yet each one maps onto a specific claim, remedy, or deadline under Florida law.

Why Clients Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for Family Business Disputes

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents business owners, investors, and families in South Florida’s most difficult business and real estate disputes, serving Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and the rest of Palm Beach County and Broward County, including Coconut Creek. The firm’s work centers on business divorce, partnership and member disputes, complex contract litigation, partition actions, quiet title actions, and real estate litigation. It also handles mediation and arbitration, and it seeks temporary and permanent injunctions when assets or property are at risk.

Andrew M. Schwartz, the firm’s Founder, 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 career has been built around complex contract disputes, business divorces, and conflicts between partners, LLC members, and shareholders. Senior Counsel Sundeep Nath, a Northwestern-trained litigator, brings years of experience in business and real estate cases in state and federal courts.

The firm practices as a true legal team, so everyone working on a matter knows the file and can respond when you call. It keeps a strict 24 hour return call policy when attorneys are in court. Mr. Schwartz’s own view is that clients often think they want a hyper-aggressive lawyer when what they really want is someone who acts as the situation requires and uses finesse when finesse will do, with a cost-effective result that makes sense next to the fees.

As for results, the firm obtained a 32-page final judgment from the Broward County Circuit Court after a five-day bench trial, awarding its client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. That kind of outcome comes from careful preparation around the exact wording of an agreement and the history between the parties, which is also what family disputes tend to turn on. The firm also takes a significant share of its work through referrals from other attorneys.

Types of Family Business Conflicts We Handle

• Sibling Co-Owners After an Inheritance: Brothers and sisters who received shares of a parent’s company often disagree about whether to sell, who should manage it, and what each is paid. Without a clear operating or shareholder agreement, the dispute can freeze decisions entirely.
• Parent and Child Succession Fights: A founder who wants to stay involved and a child who wants control rarely share the same timeline. These cases can involve claims over compensation, authority, and whether promises about ownership were ever put in writing.
• Spouses and In-Laws Who Share Ownership: When a marriage ends or a family relationship sours, ownership interests can become tangled with personal conflict. The company’s governing documents, not the family tree, usually decide what rights each person holds.
• Deadlocked LLCs and Corporations: When equal owners cannot agree and cannot break the tie, Florida’s LLC statute allows a court to consider dissolution if irreparable injury to the company is threatened or occurring. Some operating agreements include a deadlock sale provision that can take the place of a court order if it is started in time.
• Missing or Diverted Company Funds: A relative who controls the books may pay personal expenses from company accounts, commingle funds, or stall on distributions. Remedies can include an accounting, a breach of fiduciary duty claim, and recovery of the money.
• Buyouts and Valuation Disputes: Even when everyone agrees someone should leave, the price is often contested. Florida’s corporate statute lets the company or other shareholders elect to buy out a petitioning shareholder at fair value, and the parties have 60 days after the first election to agree on terms.
• Jointly Owned Real Estate: Family members often hold rental property or a commercial building together. When they disagree, an owner can ask a Florida court for partition, and the firm also handles title disputes and quiet title actions.
• Breach of Operating or Shareholder Agreements: Written agreements govern buyouts, expulsion, voting, and transfers. A relative who ignores them can face contract claims, and the precise language usually decides the outcome.

Practical Steps When a Family Partner Becomes an Adversary

Start by getting the documents in one place. Articles of organization or incorporation, the operating agreement or shareholder agreement, tax returns, bank statements, loan papers, leases, and any emails or texts that show what the owners agreed to. Family businesses often run on handshakes, so informal evidence of promises matters more than usual. Do not delete anything, and do not take company records in a way that could later be used against you. Ask what you are entitled to see as an owner.

Next, pay attention to the clock. A claim founded on a written agreement generally has a five-year limitations period in Florida, while a contract claim that is oral or implied has four years. A fraud claim runs four years from discovery, with an outer limit of 12 years. A specific performance action has only one year, which is short enough that waiting can end the claim. These periods can start at different moments, so having a lawyer review the timeline early is far safer than guessing.

If you suspect money is leaving the company, move quickly. Courts can issue injunctions and appoint a receiver or custodian in dissolution proceedings, but a judge must hold a hearing after notice before appointing one for an LLC. Emergency relief depends on showing a real risk, so a clear record of what has been spent or moved helps.

Know where your case will be heard. Coconut Creek is in Broward County, so a lawsuit over a company or property here is typically filed in the Broward County Circuit Court, part of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit. Circuit court generally hears disputes above the county court ceiling, and most serious business disputes land there. The Seventeenth Circuit also maintains complex business divisions for matters such as dissolution of certain entities and large business litigation, and a case may be filed directly into one by following the circuit’s administrative order. If the property or company has ties to Palm Beach County, that county’s Fifteenth Judicial Circuit may be the proper court instead. Federal court in the Southern District of Florida becomes an option only when federal jurisdiction exists.

Finally, avoid the common mistakes. Do not confront a relative in writing in ways that read as threats or admissions. Do not stop paying your share of obligations without advice, since that can hand the other side an argument. Do not sign a buyout or a new agreement under family pressure before someone has read it. And do not assume that because the other owner is family, the dispute will resolve itself.

Dissolution, Buyouts, and Court Supervision in Florida

Many family disputes end in one of three places: a negotiated buyout, a sale or wind-down, or a court order. Florida law gives owners different tools depending on how the company is organized.

For an LLC, a member or manager can ask the circuit court for dissolution on several grounds. These include that it is no longer reasonably practicable to carry on the business under the articles and operating agreement, that those in control have acted or are expected to act illegally or fraudulently, that assets are being misappropriated or wasted to the company’s injury, or that the owners are deadlocked and irreparable injury is threatened or occurring. The court can appoint a receiver or custodian, or order that the petitioner’s interest be purchased, if the case has sufficient merit.

For a corporation, a shareholder can seek judicial dissolution on enumerated grounds, and the statute builds in an alternative to shutting the company down. Within 30 days of a qualifying petition, the corporation must notify the other shareholders that they may avoid dissolution by electing to buy the petitioner’s shares at fair value. An election to purchase is irrevocable unless the court finds it equitable to set it aside or modify it. During the case, a court can issue injunctions, appoint a receiver or custodian, and take other steps to preserve corporate assets.

When the shared asset is real estate rather than a company, partition is the usual path. All partition actions in Florida are filed in the chancery side of the circuit court. If the court cannot fairly divide the land, it can order it sold at public auction with proceeds split in proportion to ownership. Inherited family property can fall under a separate statute, the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act, which applies when cotenants acquired title from a relative and other conditions are met, including that 20 percent or more of the interests are held by relatives. In those cases, the court must follow additional steps before ordering a sale.

Questions Family Business Owners in Coconut Creek Ask

Can a family member be forced out of a family-owned LLC or corporation?

It depends on the governing documents and the conduct involved. Many operating and shareholder agreements contain buyout, expulsion, or withdrawal provisions. Florida law also offers court remedies when an owner has engaged in serious misconduct or the company can no longer function. A lawyer can read your documents and tell you what options exist.

What if we never signed an operating agreement?

Florida’s default rules under the LLC and corporate statutes then fill the gaps, and the court may look at how the owners actually behaved. Informal evidence such as emails, tax filings, and past distributions often matters a great deal in these situations.

My sibling is taking money from the company. What can I do?

You may have claims for breach of fiduciary duty, an accounting, conversion, and recovery of the funds. If assets are being moved, a court can grant injunctive relief to stop spending or transfers while the case proceeds.

How long do I have to file a lawsuit over a business agreement?

A claim founded on a written instrument generally has five years. Oral or implied contract claims have four. Fraud claims run four years from discovery, capped at 12 years. A specific performance action has one year. The start date of each period can be disputed, so get advice early.

Does every family business dispute end up in court?

No. Many resolve through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration. The firm is experienced in alternative dispute resolution and pursues the route most likely to meet your goals at a reasonable cost, especially when the relationship may still matter.

What is a deadlock, and why does it matter?

A deadlock occurs when owners with equal or blocking power cannot agree and cannot break the tie. It matters because it can be a statutory ground for LLC dissolution if irreparable injury is threatened or occurring. If your agreement has a deadlock sale provision that is started before the court decides, that provision can apply instead of a judicial order.

Can a court appoint someone to run the company during the fight?

In dissolution proceedings, a court may appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing with notice to the parties. Courts can also issue injunctions and take steps to preserve assets while the case is pending.

What happens if we co-own a building and cannot agree to sell it?

Any co-owner can ask the court for partition. The court can divide the property if that is practical, or order a sale and split the proceeds by ownership share. A partition complaint must describe the land, identify the owners and their residences, and state each owner’s share.

Will a lawsuit destroy the family relationship?

Litigation can strain relationships, but an unresolved dispute usually does too. A lawyer can often open a negotiation or mediation path first, and many owners prefer a clean, fair separation to years of silent conflict. The right approach depends on what you want the end result to be.

I live out of state but own part of a Broward County company. Can you handle this?

Yes. The firm regularly represents clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who have business or real estate interests in South Florida. It handles the local court appearances and keeps you informed so you do not have to travel for every hearing.

Is it worth hiring a lawyer if the amount in dispute is modest?

Often it is worth at least a consultation. The amount may be small compared with the long-term effect on ownership, control, and your family relationships. The firm looks for a resolution that fits your goals and budget rather than drawing a case out.

Serving Family Business Owners Across Coconut Creek and South Florida

The firm represents family business owners in Coconut Creek and throughout Broward County, including Margate, Coral Springs, Parkland, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Tamarac, Lauderhill, Sunrise, Plantation, Davie, Hollywood, Weston, and Fort Lauderdale. Because many Coconut Creek families also hold companies and property just across the county line, the firm serves Palm Beach County as well, including Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Lake Worth, Wellington, West Palm Beach, and Palm Beach Gardens.

Whether a dispute involves a family restaurant, a retail or service business, an investment property held among relatives, or a company started with a close friend, the firm handles these matters across South Florida. It also serves clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who have business or real estate interests here.

Talk With a Coconut Creek Family Business Attorney

When a relative or longtime partner is blocking decisions, withholding money, or refusing to deal with ownership fairly, waiting rarely improves your position. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can review your documents, explain where you stand, and lay out whether negotiation, mediation, or a court case makes the most sense. Call to speak with a Coconut Creek family business attorney about your situation.