Coral Springs Partition Action Attorney

When two or more people own the same piece of real estate and cannot agree on what to do with it, the goal is usually simple: get out, get paid fairly, or take full ownership without a fight dragging on for years. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents co-owners in Coral Springs and across Broward County and Palm Beach County who need a court to resolve a stalled ownership situation, and a Coral Springs partition action attorney can tell you quickly whether the property should be divided, sold, or bought out.

Partition is the Florida court process for ending a co-ownership that has stopped working. One owner wants to sell and another refuses. A former business partner is sitting on a shared investment property. Siblings inherited a house and cannot agree on who keeps it. In each case, Florida law lets an owner ask a court to break the deadlock rather than stay tied to someone else’s decisions indefinitely.

Most of these disputes are not really about the land. They are about money, history, and trust, and the way a case is handled in its first weeks often decides whether it ends in a fair buyout or a long courtroom contest. Below, we walk through how partition works, who tends to need it, and what to do now.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for a Partition Dispute

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team is a business and real estate litigation firm serving Coral Springs, Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, and the rest of Broward County and Palm Beach County. The firm represents business owners, investors, and families in the disputes that arise when co-owners part ways, and partition actions, title disputes, and quiet title cases are a core part of that work. Clients also come to us from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with a share of South Florida property and a co-owner who lives here.

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 centered on contract disputes, business divorces, and conflicts among partners, LLC members, and shareholders, which matters because partition cases between former business associates are rarely just about a deed. They usually sit on top of an operating agreement, a loan, or years of unresolved accounting questions. Senior Counsel Sundeep Nath, a Northwestern-trained litigator, brings years of business and real estate experience in state and federal courts.

The firm works as a true legal team, so everyone on a file knows it and can answer when you call, and we keep a strict 24 hour return call policy. In November 2024 the firm announced a final judgment awarding its client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract in Broward County, entered after a five-day bench trial and a 32-page ruling. That kind of trial work, built on close reading of contracts and property documents, is what partition and title disputes demand. We also handle local court appearances for out of state owners and take referrals from other attorneys whose clients have Florida property problems.

Common Situations That Lead to a Partition Action in Broward County

• Former Business Partners Holding Property Together: A company dissolves or a partnership breaks down, but the building, land, or investment parcel is still titled in both names. Partition, sometimes paired with a claim for an accounting, is how the real estate gets separated from the dispute.
• Siblings and Heirs Who Inherited a Home: A parent passes away and the house in Coral Springs or a nearby community goes to several children as co-owners. One wants to keep it, one needs cash, one has been paying the taxes alone. Florida has special rules for this category, covered below.
• Unmarried Couples Who Bought Together: Both names are on the deed, the relationship ends, and neither can force the other to sell, refinance, or move out without a court order.
• Investors in a Shared Property: Several people pooled money for a rental, a commercial parcel, or a development site, and one or more now want out while others want to hold. Contributions, management, and expenses often become part of the fight.
• Co-Owners Who Stopped Paying Their Share: One owner carries the mortgage, taxes, insurance, and repairs while the other contributes nothing. These carrying costs frequently become credits or offsets when the court sorts out the proceeds.
• Cloudy Title Between Relatives or Associates: Competing claims to ownership, an old conveyance nobody recorded properly, or a deed that may have been obtained improperly. A quiet title action, sometimes filed alongside partition, asks the court to settle who actually owns what.
• Out of State Owners With a Local Co-Owner: Someone in New York or New Jersey owns a share of a South Florida property and cannot get the co-owner who lives here to cooperate, sell, or account for rent collected.

How a Florida Partition Case Actually Works

Partition cases are heard in the circuit court, which sits as a court of equity. That is why judges have flexibility to look at fairness among the owners instead of mechanically splitting everything down the middle. For Coral Springs property, that means the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit in Broward County. If the property sits in Palm Beach County, the case belongs to the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit instead.

The case starts with a complaint. Florida’s partition statute requires the filing to describe the land, identify each owner and where they live, and state how much each one holds. Getting that right matters, because every owner has to be named and served, and an omitted heir or lienholder can stall a case for months.

If the court finds partition is warranted, it enters a judgment and appoints three commissioners, picked by the judge unless the parties agree on who they should be. Commissioners look at whether the land can be physically divided fairly. For a single-family home or a condo unit, it usually cannot. In that situation the court may order the property sold at public auction to the highest bidder and divide the proceeds according to each owner’s share. A court can allow a sale on credit for good cause, but at least one-third of the purchase price must be paid down unless every party agrees to different terms.

Many owners want to avoid an auction because auctions rarely bring top dollar. That is where negotiation does its work. A buyout of one owner’s share, an agreed private sale on the open market, or one owner taking the property and paying the other can all be resolved before a commissioner ever walks the land. We use mediation and negotiation when they serve the client, and litigate when they do not.

Inherited Property Gets Different Treatment

Florida adopted the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act, and it applies to partition cases filed on or after July 1, 2020. If the property qualifies as heirs property, the court has to follow that act’s procedures unless every co-owner agrees otherwise in writing.

In general terms, heirs property is real estate held by co-owners as tenants in common with no binding agreement among them about partition, where at least one owner got title from a relative, and where additional conditions are met. One of those conditions is that twenty percent or more of the interests are held by cotenants who are relatives. The practical effect is protective: the act gives other co-owners a chance to buy out the share of the owner who wants to force a sale, and it limits when a court can simply order a sale in favor of physically dividing the land. A judgment dividing the property in kind generally requires commissioners to have weighed statutory factors and concluded that division would prejudice the owners as a group.

If you inherited a share of a home with relatives, the first question in your case is whether this act applies. It changes the strategy for both sides, whether you are the owner trying to exit or the one trying to stay.

Business Entities, Dissolution, and Property

When the co-owners are really business partners, partition may not be the only tool, and sometimes it is not the right one. If real estate is owned by an LLC or corporation, the owners hold shares or membership interests, not title to the property itself, and the dispute may belong in a dissolution or buyout proceeding.

For LLCs, a court can order dissolution on grounds that include deadlock between managers or members when irreparable injury to the company is threatened or occurring, conduct of affairs unlawfully, misappropriation or waste of assets, or when it is not reasonably practicable to carry on the business under the operating agreement. A court may also appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing, or order a purchase of the petitioning member’s interest. For corporations, a shareholder can seek judicial dissolution on statutory grounds, and the corporation or other shareholders can 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 on those terms. Operating and shareholder agreements may also contain deadlock sale provisions that can take over before the court rules.

Choosing between partition, dissolution, a buyout claim, or all of them together is one of the most important early decisions in these cases, and it depends on how title is actually held and what the governing documents say.

What to Do Right Now if You Co-Own Property and Want Out

Start by getting the paper. Pull the deed, any mortgage or loan documents, the closing statement, and anything that shows how the owners agreed to hold title and split costs. If an LLC or partnership owns the property, gather the operating agreement or partnership agreement as well. A title search through the Broward County property records will show who is on title and whether liens or competing claims exist; the Broward County Property Appraiser’s records are a useful first look at ownership and assessed value.

Next, document money. Keep records of mortgage payments, property taxes, insurance, repairs, and improvements you paid for, plus any rent or income the property generated and who collected it. In partition cases, these numbers drive credits and adjustments when proceeds are divided. If a co-owner has collected rent without sharing it or is living in the property and refusing to cooperate, write down dates and amounts.

Be careful about what you put in writing to the other owner. Texts and emails in these disputes often become exhibits. Offers to buy or sell should be made deliberately, and you should not move out, change locks, or stop paying obligations without understanding how that affects your position. Do not sign anything a co-owner or a prospective buyer hands you without having it reviewed.

Consider timing as well. Different claims carry different limitation periods: for example, five years for an action founded on a written contract and four years for one that is not, while a claim to recover real property generally requires that the plaintiff or a predecessor held possession within seven years before suing. If you suspect an owner has been claiming the whole property as theirs, or that money disappeared, do not wait to find out which clock applies. Contact the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team early so we can review the documents and tell you which court, which claims, and which approach make sense. Where a co-owner is about to transfer, encumber, or strip value from the property, we can also seek injunctive relief while the case proceeds.

Questions About Partition Actions in Coral Springs

What is a partition action in Florida?

It is a lawsuit asking a court to end co-ownership of real property, either by dividing the land among the owners or, when division is not practical, by selling it and splitting the proceeds according to each owner’s share.

Can one co-owner force the others to sell?

Generally, yes. A co-owner does not need the others’ permission to ask the court for partition. The court’s flexibility lies in how the partition happens, and inherited property is subject to additional protections under Florida’s heirs property statute.

Which court handles a partition case for Coral Springs property?

Partition is an equity matter heard in circuit court. For property in Coral Springs, that is the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, which sits in and for Broward County. Property in Palm Beach County would be heard in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit.

Will my house be sold at auction?

Possibly, but not necessarily. If commissioners find the property cannot be divided without prejudice to the owners, the court may order a public sale. Many cases resolve earlier through a buyout or an agreed sale, which usually produces a better price than an auction.

What happens to the mortgage and carrying costs?

Those are part of the accounting. An owner who has paid more than their share of taxes, insurance, mortgage payments, or necessary repairs may be entitled to credit when proceeds are divided, and an owner who collected rents or had exclusive use may face an offset.

How do I know if my inherited property counts as heirs property?

The property must be held as tenants in common with no binding partition agreement, at least one owner must have acquired title from a relative, and one of the statute’s further conditions must be met, such as relatives holding twenty percent or more of the interests. If it qualifies, special procedures apply unless all co-owners agree otherwise in writing.

My co-owner lives in the house and will not leave. Can I still file?

Yes. Partition does not depend on who occupies the property. The occupant’s use, and whether they paid carrying costs or collected income, is typically addressed in the accounting between owners.

What if the property is owned by an LLC and not by us personally?

Then partition may not be available because the company holds title. The dispute may instead need a claim for judicial dissolution, a court-ordered buyout, or enforcement of a deadlock provision in the operating agreement, depending on the facts and the documents.

Can partition be combined with a quiet title claim?

Yes, where ownership itself is disputed. A court can be asked to determine who holds title, cancel an improper conveyance, and then partition the property among the rightful owners. A quiet title plaintiff generally must trace title back at least seven years unless the court orders otherwise.

I live out of state. Do I have to come to Florida for hearings?

Usually not for every proceeding. We handle local court appearances for out of state owners and keep clients informed at each stage, so you can protect your share of a South Florida property without traveling for every hearing.

Is it worth hiring a lawyer if I just want a quick, fair buyout?

Often yes, because the buyout price depends on valuation, credits, and what a court would likely do if the case were filed. Knowing the litigation alternative gives you leverage in negotiation and keeps you from accepting a number based on the other side’s assumptions.

How long does a partition case take in Broward County?

It varies with the number of owners, whether title is contested, whether the property is heirs property, and whether the owners will negotiate. Straightforward cases move faster than those with multiple heirs, liens, or competing ownership claims. We give clients a realistic expectation after reviewing the documents.

Serving Partition Clients Across Coral Springs and South Florida

We represent co-owners throughout Coral Springs, from neighborhoods near the city center and Coral Ridge Country Club to the communities around Wiles Road, Sample Road, and University Drive. Our reach extends to neighboring Broward cities including Parkland, Margate, Tamarac, Coconut Creek, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Plantation, Sunrise, and Fort Lauderdale, along with Davie, Weston, and Hollywood.

Across the county line in Palm Beach County, we serve owners in Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Lake Worth, Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, and West Palm Beach. We also work with clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who hold a share of South Florida property and need a local litigator to handle the court side, and with other attorneys who refer us Florida real estate disputes.

Talk to a Coral Springs Partition Attorney About Your Co-Owned Property

If you are stuck with a co-owner who will not sell, will not buy you out, or will not account for what has happened to the property, the next step is a conversation about your documents and your options. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can tell you whether a Coral Springs partition attorney should file for partition, pursue a buyout, bring a title or dissolution claim, or seek emergency relief to protect the property while the case moves forward. Call to schedule a consultation and we will tell you plainly where you stand.