Coral Springs Breach of Fiduciary Duty Attorney

A partner who stops answering questions about the books, a manager who pays himself first, a co-member who quietly moves a client list to a new company: by the time a Coral Springs business owner suspects something is wrong, money or opportunity has usually already left. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents business owners, investors, and families in business and real estate disputes across Broward County and Palm Beach County, and a Coral Springs breach of fiduciary duty attorney is often the first call these owners make once the numbers stop adding up.

Fiduciary claims differ from ordinary contract claims in a way that matters early. A contract case asks whether someone broke a promise. A fiduciary case asks whether someone who was trusted with your money, your company, or your decisions put his own interests ahead of yours. Managers of an LLC, officers and directors of a corporation, general partners, and majority owners who control the company’s affairs can all owe duties to the people whose interests they hold. The remedies reach further than damages alone: an accounting, return of diverted funds, removal of the person in control, and in the right case a court-ordered end to the business itself.

How these cases unfold is fairly predictable. They start with a suspicion and a request for records. They move to a demand, then to a complaint, and frequently to an emergency motion if assets are at risk. Many end at a negotiated buyout or a mediated separation rather than a verdict, but the leverage that produces a fair buyout is built in the first weeks, long before anyone sits down at a mediation table.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for Fiduciary Duty Disputes

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team is a business and real estate litigation firm serving Coral Springs and the rest of Broward County, along with Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and Palm Beach County. The firm represents partners, LLC members, shareholders, minority owners, and family business participants in business divorce, partnership disputes, complex contract litigation, and cases involving missing or diverted funds. Clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who own South Florida businesses or property also rely on the firm, which handles the local court appearances so they do not have to travel for every hearing.

Andrew M. Schwartz has spent 37 years in litigation. He was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989, earned his undergraduate degree from Emory University in 1986 and his law degree from the University of Miami in 1989, and has built his career around contract disputes, business divorces, and conflicts between partners, LLC members, and shareholders. Sundeep Nath, Senior Counsel, is a Northwestern-trained litigator with years of experience in business and real estate cases in both state and federal courts. That matters in fiduciary disputes, which can start in circuit court and sometimes move to federal court depending on the parties and claims.

The firm practices as a true legal team, meaning everyone working on a matter knows the file. Calls are answered, and when the attorneys are in court, a strict 24 hour return call policy applies. The firm is experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as courtroom litigation, and it looks for the resolution that serves the client’s goals and budget rather than stretching a case out for its own sake. On the trial side, a recent 5-day bench trial in Broward County Circuit Court ended in a 32-page final judgment awarding the firm’s client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. That result reflects the kind of record-heavy, document-driven preparation fiduciary cases demand. Fiduciary claims are won on the paper trail: bank records, operating agreements, emails, and the history of how the parties actually dealt with each other.

Situations That Give Rise to Fiduciary Duty Claims

• Diverted or Misused Company Funds: A manager or partner pays personal expenses from the company account, routes revenue to a side entity, or takes distributions the others never received. These cases often include claims for an accounting and recovery of the money.
• Self-Dealing Transactions: A controlling owner causes the company to contract with his own affiliate, lease property he owns at inflated rates, or sell assets to an insider below value. The question is whether the deal was fair and properly disclosed.
• Usurping Business Opportunities: A partner steers a deal, customer, or property purchase to a separate venture instead of presenting it to the company. This is common in real estate investment partnerships and service businesses where relationships drive revenue.
• Freeze-Outs of Minority Owners: Majority owners cut off access to records, stop distributions, remove a member from management, or pay themselves large salaries while the minority owner receives nothing. Florida’s LLC and corporate statutes provide remedies when this conduct harms the company or its owners.
• Commingled Accounts and Missing Records: Company money mixed with personal funds, or a manager who cannot or will not account for where it went, supports claims for an accounting and, in urgent cases, a court order freezing the movement of assets.
• Competing While Still an Owner: A member or officer launches a rival business, solicits employees or clients, and uses company information while still holding a position of trust in the original company.
• Family Business Betrayals: Siblings, parents and children, or in-laws who share ownership face the same fiduciary questions as strangers, with the added strain of family relationships. These cases call for discretion alongside firm protection of the client’s financial interests.
• Misconduct Leading to Dissolution: When assets are being misappropriated or wasted, when those in control act illegally or fraudulently, or when owners are deadlocked and the company faces irreparable injury, Florida’s LLC statute lists these as grounds a member may use to ask a circuit court to dissolve the company.

What to Do If You Suspect a Partner or Manager Is Breaching Their Duties

Start by securing information before anyone knows you are looking. Gather the operating agreement or shareholder agreement, the articles of organization or incorporation, tax returns, and whatever bank statements, ledgers, and accounting reports you can lawfully access as an owner. Write down dates and details while memories are fresh: when distributions stopped, who made which decisions, what you were told and by whom. Preserve emails and texts, and do not delete anything, even material that looks unhelpful. Do not log into accounts or systems you are not authorized to use, because overreaching can hand the other side a counterclaim.

Next, read your governing documents closely. Operating agreements and shareholder agreements often contain notice requirements, buyout formulas, dispute resolution clauses, and mandatory mediation or arbitration provisions that determine where and how your claim must be brought. Some include a deadlock sale mechanism, and Florida law gives priority to such a provision when it is properly initiated before a court finds deadlock grounds. Triggering or missing a clause like that can change your options, so have an attorney review the documents before you send a demand or confront anyone.

Watch the clock. A claim founded on a written instrument carries a five-year limitations period in Florida, while a claim not founded on a written instrument has four years, and fraud claims run four years from discovery, subject to an outer cap of twelve years. Which period governs a particular fiduciary claim depends on how it is pleaded and what it rests on, which is one reason to get a legal read on the facts early rather than waiting. Negligence-based theories are shorter, at two years for causes of action arising after the 2023 change. Delay also hurts in practical ways: records get lost, money gets spent, and courts take a dim view of owners who watched for years and then complained.

If money is actively leaving the company, speed matters more than anything. Florida courts can issue temporary injunctions to stop assets from being moved or spent while a case is pending, and in a dissolution proceeding they can appoint a receiver or custodian, though only after notice to the parties and a hearing. Where the amount in dispute exceeds the county court limit, these cases belong in circuit court. For Coral Springs, that means the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, which sits in and for Broward County. That circuit maintains a complex business division that handles, among other things, dissolution of certain business entities and large business litigation, and a case can be filed directly into it under the circuit’s administrative order. If the dispute reaches into Palm Beach County, the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit would be the court involved. Cases with a federal basis can be heard in the Southern District of Florida, which includes both counties.

The most common mistakes are predictable. Owners confront the partner before consulting counsel and give him time to cover tracks. They sign a “clarifying” amendment or release without understanding it. They keep funding a company that is being drained. Or they assume a handshake history with a longtime partner means no paper trail is needed. A short, early consultation usually prevents all of these.

Remedies Available When Owners Cannot Stay in the Business Together

Not every fiduciary dispute ends the same way, and the right goal depends on whether the business is worth saving. Where the company is sound and one bad actor is the problem, the objective may be an accounting, repayment, and restrictions on that person’s control. Where trust is gone, the objective is usually a clean exit: a negotiated buyout at fair value, a sale of the company, or a structured wind-down.

Florida law gives courts real tools in the harder cases. For LLCs, a member can petition for judicial dissolution on grounds that include misappropriation or waste of assets, illegal or fraudulent conduct by controlling members or managers, impracticability of operating under the governing documents, and deadlock that threatens irreparable injury. On a showing of sufficient merit, the court may appoint a receiver or custodian or order a purchase of the petitioning member’s interest.

For corporations, a shareholder can seek judicial dissolution or another statutory remedy, and the statute builds in a buyout alternative. When a shareholder files, the corporation or the other shareholders may elect to purchase the petitioner’s shares at fair value. If the parties agree on value and terms within 60 days of the first election, the court enters an order directing the purchase. Within 30 days of the filing, the corporation must notify the other shareholders that they may avoid dissolution by electing to buy. An election to purchase is irrevocable unless the court finds it equitable to set it aside or modify it. In these proceedings the court can also issue injunctions, appoint a receiver or custodian, and take other steps to preserve corporate assets.

Valuation is frequently the real fight. Each side hires a financial expert, and the numbers can be far apart. The preparation that matters most is assembling a clean financial record early, so that the fair value figure is built on facts rather than on whatever the controlling owner chooses to present.

Questions Coral Springs Business Owners Ask About Fiduciary Duty Claims

What is a breach of fiduciary duty in a business setting?

It occurs when someone who owes a duty of loyalty or care to a company or its owners acts in his own interest instead, or acts carelessly in a way that harms them. Typical examples include self-dealing, hidden compensation, diverting funds, and taking business opportunities that belonged to the company.

Who can owe a fiduciary duty to me?

Managers and managing members of an LLC, officers and directors of a corporation, and general partners are common examples, and in some circumstances controlling owners owe duties to minority owners. Whether a duty exists and how far it reaches depends on the entity type, the governing documents, and the relationship between the parties.

What can I recover if a partner took money from the company?

Depending on the facts, you may seek an accounting, repayment of diverted funds, damages, and claims such as conversion alongside the fiduciary claim. In urgent situations a court can issue injunctive relief to stop assets from being moved or spent while the case is pending.

How long do I have to file a fiduciary duty lawsuit in Florida?

It depends on how the claim is framed. Claims founded on a written instrument have a five-year period, claims not founded on a written instrument have four years, and fraud claims run four years from discovery with a twelve-year cap. Because the right period turns on the specific facts and pleading, getting a legal review quickly is safer than guessing.

Do I need my operating agreement reviewed before taking action?

Yes. Many agreements include mandatory mediation or arbitration clauses, notice requirements, buyout formulas, and deadlock provisions that shape how and where your claim can proceed. Acting without reading them can cost you leverage or force a procedural fight.

Can I get a court to remove a manager who is mismanaging the company?

Sometimes. Your operating agreement may allow removal by vote or for cause. Where the agreement does not solve the problem, Florida law allows a court in certain dissolution proceedings to appoint a receiver or custodian, after notice to the parties and a hearing, when the facts show sufficient merit.

My business partner is also my brother. Does that change anything legally?

The legal duties are the same, but the practical handling differs. Family disputes call for discretion, careful communication, and often a stronger push toward a negotiated separation. Even so, your financial interests deserve the same protection they would receive in any other case.

What if I am a minority owner with no access to the books?

Owners generally have rights to company information under their governing documents and Florida business entity law, and a refusal to provide records is often itself evidence of a problem. A formal records demand is usually the first step, followed by court action if the demand is ignored.

How long does a fiduciary duty case take in Broward County?

There is no single answer. A case that settles after a records demand and a mediation can resolve in months, while one that proceeds through discovery, expert valuation, and a bench trial takes considerably longer. Emergency injunction motions move much faster than the underlying case.

Does every fiduciary dispute end up in court?

No. Many resolve through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, particularly once the financial picture is clear and each side understands the risk of trial. The firm’s attorneys are experienced in alternative dispute resolution and pursue whichever path is most likely to meet the client’s goals efficiently.

I live in New York or New Jersey but my partner and the business are in South Florida. Can you handle this?

Yes. The firm regularly represents clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with South Florida business or real estate interests. The attorneys handle the local court proceedings and keep out of state clients informed at every stage, so you do not have to travel for each hearing.

Can another attorney refer me or bring the firm in on a Florida dispute?

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. The firm communicates with referring counsel throughout the matter and respects the referring attorney’s relationship with the client.

Serving Fiduciary Duty Clients Across Coral Springs and South Florida

The firm’s work begins with Coral Springs and the Broward County communities around it, including Parkland, Margate, Tamarac, Coconut Creek, Sunrise, Plantation, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Lauderhill, Davie, Weston, Fort Lauderdale, and Hollywood. Broward business owners may find their cases heard in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, which holds civil proceedings at several courthouses in the county.

To the north, the firm represents clients in Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens, and West Palm Beach throughout Palm Beach County, where the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit sits. Across both counties, the firm handles disputes among partners, LLC members, shareholders, and family co-owners, along with the real estate disputes that often accompany them. Clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with business or property interests in South Florida are also part of the firm’s regular practice.

Speak With a Coral Springs Breach of Fiduciary Duty Lawyer

If you believe a partner, manager, or controlling owner has put his own interests ahead of the company and your investment, the sooner the facts are reviewed, the more options you tend to have. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can look at your agreements, your records, and the timeline, and tell you plainly what claims exist and what outcome is realistic. Call to schedule a consultation with a Coral Springs breach of fiduciary duty lawyer who understands both business disputes and the courts of Broward and Palm Beach Counties.

The attorneys answer calls and return messages within 24 hours when in court. Reach out today to discuss where your dispute stands and what to do next.