Coral Springs Business Litigation Attorney

The goal in most business disputes is simple to state and hard to reach: keep what you built, recover what is owed, or leave a failed partnership on terms you can live with. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team handles business and real estate litigation for owners, investors, and families, and a Coral Springs business litigation attorney from our firm can step into disputes over partnerships, contracts, missing money, and jointly owned property. We serve clients in Coral Springs and throughout Broward County and Palm Beach County.

Disputes in this part of Broward County tend to come from the same places: a two-owner company where the owners stopped agreeing, a family business passed to siblings with different ideas, a commercial lease or purchase contract that fell apart before closing, or a partner who cannot explain where the company’s money went. Each of these has a clock running, and the first decisions made often shape everything that follows.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for Business Disputes Near Coral Springs

The Andrew M. Andrew M. Schwartz, the firm’s founder, was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989 and has spent 37 years in litigation, with his work centered 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 both state and federal courts. That matters in Broward County, where some disputes belong in state circuit court and others can end up in federal court.

The firm works as a true legal team, so everyone on a matter knows the file and can answer when you call. We keep a strict 24 hour return call policy. Our attorneys handle mediation and arbitration as well as trials, and we look for the resolution that fits the client’s goals and budget rather than stretching a case out for its own sake.

There is trial proof behind that approach. After a 5-day bench trial, a Broward County circuit judge issued a 32-page final judgment awarding our client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. A significant part of our practice also comes from referrals by other attorneys, including out of state lawyers whose clients have disputes in Florida.

Types of Business Disputes We Handle for Coral Springs Owners and Investors

• Business Divorce: Co-owners who cannot agree on direction, pay, or control can end up deadlocked. Resolution may be a negotiated buyout, a structured wind-down, a sale, or court-ordered dissolution.
• Partnership, LLC, and Shareholder Disputes: Claims for breach of an operating or shareholder agreement, breach of fiduciary duty, and unfair treatment of minority owners.
• Complex Contract Litigation: Purchase agreements, operating agreements, commercial leases, loan documents, and construction contracts, where the outcome often turns on exact wording and how the parties actually dealt with each other.
• Missing Funds and Accounting Claims: Unpaid distributions, diverted company money, commingled accounts, and disputed capital contributions, with claims for an accounting and recovery of funds.
• Partition Actions: Former partners, siblings who inherited property, unmarried couples, and investors who want out of a shared property can ask a court to divide it or order a sale.
• Title Disputes and Quiet Title: Competing ownership claims and clouds on title, including cases where a client needs to be separated from title to a property.
• Injunctions and Emergency Relief: Temporary and permanent injunctions to stop assets from being moved, spent, or damaged while a case is pending.
• Family Business Conflicts: Siblings, parents and children, spouses, and in-laws who share ownership and disagree about control, compensation, and succession.

What to Do When a Business Relationship Breaks Down

Start with the paper. Pull the operating agreement, shareholder agreement, partnership agreement, any amendments, and the company’s formation documents. Many of these agreements contain buyout formulas, deadlock provisions, notice requirements, or dispute resolution clauses that control the first moves. A Florida LLC or corporation can have a deadlock sale provision, and if one is started before a court finds grounds for dissolution, that provision can take the place of a judicial dissolution order. Reading the agreement before acting avoids missteps.

Next, preserve financial records. Gather bank statements, tax returns, ledgers, distribution records, loan documents, and emails or texts that show who agreed to what. If you suspect money is leaving the company, do not confront the other owner first. A warning can speed up the problem. Tell your attorney, who can decide whether emergency injunctive relief is needed.

Watch the deadlines. A claim on a written contract generally must be filed within five years, while an oral or implied contract claim has four. A fraud claim has four years from discovery, capped at 12 years overall. A suit for specific performance of a contract carries a one-year period, which is much shorter than people expect. These limits are why waiting to see if things cool down can cost you a claim.

For a Coral Springs dispute, the case will usually be in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, which sits in and for Broward County. Claims above the county court’s limit go to circuit court, and the Seventeenth Circuit has complex business divisions that handle dissolutions of certain business entities and large business and construction cases. Some disputes can instead be heard in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, which includes Broward and Palm Beach Counties and holds court in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.

Finally, avoid the common mistakes: locking the other owner out of accounts or the premises without legal advice, moving company funds to protect them, signing a buyout term sheet without a valuation, and ignoring a demand letter. Each can create a counterclaim against you.

Ending a Company or a Co-Ownership: Dissolution, Buyouts, and Partition

When owners cannot continue together, Florida law gives courts specific tools. Under the LLC statute, a member or manager can ask a circuit court to dissolve the company on grounds that include deadlock with irreparable injury threatened, misappropriation or waste of assets, illegal or fraudulent conduct by those in control, or that it is not reasonably practicable to carry on the business under the operating agreement. The court can appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing, or order a purchase of the petitioning member’s interest instead of dissolving the company.

Corporations have a parallel path. A shareholder can petition for dissolution, and once that proceeding starts, the corporation must notify the other shareholders within 30 days that they may avoid dissolution by electing to buy the petitioner’s shares at fair value. If the sides agree on value and terms within 60 days after the first election is filed, the court enters an order directing the purchase. During the case, the court can issue injunctions and appoint a receiver or custodian to preserve assets. That buyout route is often the practical goal, because it lets one side keep a business that still has value.

Real property has its own mechanism. Partition actions are brought in chancery under Chapter 64 of the Florida Statutes. The complaint must describe the land, name the owners, and state what each holds. If the court finds the property cannot be fairly divided, it can order a sale at public auction and split the proceeds by ownership share. Inherited property held by relatives can fall under the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act, which adds protections before a forced sale. Quiet title actions are a separate tool, used to cancel a conveyance or remove a cloud on title, and the plaintiff generally has to trace title back at least seven years.

Business Litigation Questions From Coral Springs Owners

What is a business divorce?

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

Can I force a business partner out of an LLC in Florida?

It depends on your operating agreement and the conduct involved. Many agreements include buyout, expulsion, or dissociation provisions, and Florida law offers remedies for serious misconduct or when the company can no longer function. An attorney should review the agreement before you act.

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. In urgent situations a court can issue injunctive relief to stop assets from being moved or spent while the case proceeds.

How long do I have to sue for breach of a written contract?

Five years for a claim founded on a written instrument. Oral and implied contract claims have four years. Specific performance actions have a one-year period, so those need quick attention.

Which court will hear my dispute?

Most Coral Springs business cases of significant size are filed in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, which sits in and for Broward County. Disputes of smaller value may go to county court, and some cases can be heard in federal court in the Southern District of Florida.

Does every business dispute have to go to trial?

No. Many are resolved through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration. We pursue the path most likely to meet your goals efficiently, and we prepare for trial in case it is needed.

What happens if my operating agreement has a deadlock sale provision?

If the provision is started before a court finds deadlock grounds exist, it can apply in place of a judicial dissolution order. How it works, including pricing and timing, is set by the agreement’s own terms, so the exact language matters.

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

Yes, in a dissolution proceeding a court can appoint a receiver or custodian, but only after notice to the parties and a hearing. The request has to show enough merit to justify the step.

My co-owner and I are family. Does that change anything?

The law applies the same way, but the handling differs. Family business cases call for discretion, and they often involve heirs property rules if real estate was inherited. We protect your financial position while keeping the tone as measured as the facts allow.

I live in New York or New Jersey. Can you handle my Coral Springs business dispute?

Yes. We regularly represent clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who have business or real estate interests in South Florida. We handle the local court appearances and keep you informed so you do not have to travel for every hearing.

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

Often, yes. Our general counsel program gives businesses regular access to legal advice, and having a litigator review contracts and handle compliance questions early can keep a disagreement from becoming a case.

Serving Business Litigation Clients Across Coral Springs and South Florida

We represent business owners and investors in Coral Springs and the neighboring Broward County communities of Parkland, Margate, Tamarac, Coconut Creek, Sunrise, Plantation, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Davie, Weston, and Hollywood. Our work extends north into Palm Beach County, including Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Wellington, and West Palm Beach.

Whether the dispute involves a Coral Springs company, an investment property in Broward County, or a partner in Palm Beach County, our team handles contract litigation, partnership and member disputes, partition and title cases, and injunctions. We also serve clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut whose business partners or co-owners are here in South Florida.

Talk With a Coral Springs Business Litigation Attorney

When a partner, a contract, or a piece of property puts your investment at risk, the early decisions matter. A Coral Springs business litigation attorney at the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can review your agreements, explain your options under Florida law, and tell you plainly whether negotiation, mediation, or a court filing makes the most sense.

Call to schedule a consultation. We answer the phone, and if we are in court, you will hear back within 24 hours.