Dania Beach Business Attorney
A partner in your Dania Beach company has stopped answering questions about the books, or a co-owner of a commercial property near the marine and airport corridor wants out and you do not. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team handles business and real estate disputes for owners, investors, and families in Broward County and Palm Beach County, and works as a Dania Beach business attorney for clients whose company relationships have broken down.
Dania Beach sits in a corridor where marine businesses, antique and design retailers, hospitality operations, warehouse tenants, and small family enterprises share a few square miles with the airport and the port nearby. Many of those companies are held by two or three owners with a handshake history and a thin operating agreement. When money goes missing, a distribution stops, or one owner locks the others out, the written documents and the timing of your response decide a great deal. The sections below walk through how these disputes work in Florida and what to do first.
Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for a Business Dispute in Dania Beach
The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents business owners, investors, and families in some of South Florida’s hardest business and real estate disputes, serving Broward County, Palm Beach County, and clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who hold interests here. It also offers outside general counsel services, including serving as a company’s registered agent.
Andrew M. He holds an undergraduate degree from Emory University (1986) and a law degree from the University of Miami (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 federal experience matters in South Florida, where the Southern District of Florida sits in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach and hears disputes that cross state lines or raise federal claims.
The firm works as a true legal team, so everyone on a matter knows the file, and it keeps a strict 24 hour return call policy. Proof of trial work is on the record: after a five-day bench trial, a Broward County circuit judge entered a 32-page final judgment awarding the firm’s client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. The attorneys are also experienced in mediation and arbitration, and they look for the resolution that fits the client’s goals and budget rather than prolonging a case for its own sake.
Business Disputes a Dania Beach Company Is Most Likely to Face
- Business Divorce Between Owners: Co-owners who cannot agree on direction, compensation, or who contributes what may need a negotiated buyout, a structured wind-down, or a court-ordered separation. Deadlocked management is one of the recognized grounds for judicial dissolution of a Florida LLC.
- Breach of Operating or Shareholder Agreements: Many Dania Beach companies run on a short form agreement or none at all. Disputes turn on buy-sell clauses, voting rights, transfer restrictions, and deadlock sale provisions, which Florida courts will honor when properly initiated.
- Missing Funds and Diverted Distributions: Unpaid distributions, commingled accounts, and managers who cannot account for company money support claims for an accounting, breach of fiduciary duty, and recovery of funds.
- Complex Contract Litigation: Purchase agreements, commercial leases, loan documents, and construction contracts are common in a market with active marine, warehouse, and retail space. These cases often turn on exact contract wording and the parties’ course of dealing.
- Family Business Conflicts: Siblings who inherited a company, parents and children with different plans, and in-laws who share ownership face questions of control and compensation that require discretion as well as firm financial protection.
- Partition and Title Disputes: Co-owners of commercial or residential property can ask a court to divide the property or order its sale. Quiet title actions clear competing ownership claims or remove a cloud on title.
- Emergency Injunctions: When assets are being moved, a lockout is underway, or a vital business interest is at risk, temporary and permanent injunctions can freeze the situation while the dispute proceeds.
- Landlord and Tenant Disputes: Failed closings, purchase and sale contract fights, and lease disputes between commercial landlords and tenants fall within the firm’s real estate litigation work.
First Moves When a Business Relationship Breaks Down
Start by collecting the documents that define the relationship: articles of organization or incorporation, the operating or shareholder agreement, amendments, capital contribution records, tax returns, bank statements, and any emails or texts where an owner admitted a decision or a debt. Do this before tensions harden, because access to company records can disappear quickly once a dispute becomes open. Do not delete anything, and do not move company funds yourself, since your own conduct will be examined later.
Read the agreement for a deadlock or buy-sell provision before filing anything. In an LLC, a deadlock sale clause that is initiated before a court finds deadlock grounds can displace judicial dissolution, so the sequence of steps matters. For a corporation, a shareholder who files for dissolution on certain grounds keeps the right to start an available deadlock sale under a compliant shareholder agreement. The corporation or other shareholders may also elect to buy out a petitioning shareholder at fair value, and if the parties agree on value and terms within 60 days of the first election, the court enters an order directing the purchase.
Deadlines are the other early issue. A claim founded on a written contract generally must be filed within five years, while an oral or implied contract claim has four years. Fraud claims run four years from discovery, with an outer limit of 12 years, and an action for specific performance has a one-year period. Negligence claims were cut to two years for causes of action arising after March 2023, and professional malpractice claims, such as against an accountant or other non-medical professional, also carry two years from discovery. Waiting while you hope the relationship repairs itself can quietly cost you a claim.
If assets are at risk, talk to counsel about emergency relief immediately. In dissolution proceedings a Florida court can appoint a receiver or custodian after notice and a hearing, and in corporate cases it can issue injunctions and preserve assets while the case is pending. Which court hears your case depends on the amount and the claims. Amounts above the county court ceiling belong in circuit court, which for Dania Beach means the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit in and for Broward County. Broward has a complex business division that handles matters such as dissolution of certain business entities and large business and construction litigation, and cases can be directed there under the circuit’s administrative procedures. Federal claims go to the Southern District of Florida, which holds court in Fort Lauderdale.
How Florida Courts Untangle Co-Owned Companies and Property
Florida’s LLC statute lists specific grounds on which a manager or member can ask a circuit court to dissolve the company: conduct that is unlawful, a business that cannot reasonably be run in line with its governing documents, illegal or fraudulent conduct by those in control, misappropriation or waste of assets that causes injury, or a deadlock that cannot be broken and threatens irreparable injury. The court may also order a purchase of the petitioning member’s interest instead of dissolving, which often gives a minority owner a cleaner exit than a liquidation.
Real estate raises its own mechanics. A partition action begins with a complaint describing the land, naming the owners and where they live, and stating each owner’s share. If the property can be divided fairly, the court appoints three commissioners to do it. If division would prejudice the owners, the court can order a sale at public auction and divide the proceeds by interest, and where credit is allowed, at least one-third of the price must be paid down unless everyone consents otherwise. Inherited property gets special treatment under Florida’s heirs property law, which applies to qualifying co-owned property acquired from relatives and requires additional protections before a forced sale.
Quiet title cases work differently. A plaintiff asks the court to determine ownership and remove a cloud created by a competing deed or claim, and generally must trace title back at least seven years unless the court orders otherwise. The action can be filed in any county where part of the land lies. Adverse possession, by contrast, requires seven years of actual, continuous possession under a claim of title, and the claimant must file a return with a full legal description. Owners often discover these issues only when a sale or refinance stalls.
Questions Dania Beach Owners Ask About Business Litigation
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 of the business, a structured wind-down, or court-ordered dissolution when the owners cannot agree.
Can I force a partner out of my Florida LLC?
It depends on your operating agreement and the conduct involved. Many agreements contain buyout, expulsion, or dissociation provisions, and Florida law provides remedies for serious misconduct or when the company can no longer function. An attorney needs to read your agreement before you act.
What can I do if a partner is taking company money?
You may have claims for breach of fiduciary duty, an accounting, conversion, and recovery of the funds. In urgent situations a court can order injunctive relief to stop assets from being moved or spent while the case is pending.
How long do I have to sue over a breach of contract?
Five years for a claim founded on a written instrument, and four years for oral or implied contracts. Specific performance carries a shorter one-year period, so a failed real estate closing should be evaluated quickly.
Does every business dispute end up in court?
No. Many resolve through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration. The firm’s attorneys are experienced in each, and they pursue the path most likely to meet your goals at reasonable cost.
My operating agreement has a deadlock clause. Does that change my options?
It can. If a deadlock sale provision is started before a court finds deadlock grounds, it can take the place of judicial dissolution, so the order in which you act matters. Review the clause before filing.
Can a court appoint someone to run the company while we fight?
In an LLC dissolution case a court can appoint a receiver or custodian once a sufficient showing is made, but only after notifying the parties and holding a hearing. Corporate cases allow similar protective steps, including injunctions to preserve assets.
My co-owner and I inherited a building together. Can one of us force a sale?
A co-owner can file a partition action. If the property qualifies as heirs property, Florida’s heirs property provisions apply and add protections before a sale, including requirements that the court consider whether dividing the land would harm the owners as a group.
Which court hears a Dania Beach business case?
Larger civil claims are filed in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, in and for Broward County, which has a complex business division for certain disputes. Smaller claims go to county court, and federal claims go to the Southern District of Florida.
I live in New York or New Jersey but own part of a Dania Beach company. Do I have to travel for hearings?
Generally the firm handles local court appearances and keeps out of state clients informed at each stage, so you can protect your interests without traveling for every proceeding.
Can another attorney refer a Florida business matter to your firm?
Yes. A significant part of the practice comes from other lawyers, including out of state counsel whose clients have Florida disputes. The firm communicates with referring counsel throughout and respects that relationship.
Serving Dania Beach Business Owners Across Broward and Palm Beach County
The firm’s business litigation work for Dania Beach owners extends through the surrounding Broward County communities, including Hollywood, Hallandale Beach, Pembroke Park, West Park, Pembroke Pines, Davie, Fort Lauderdale, Oakland Park, Wilton Manors, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Pompano Beach, Plantation, Sunrise, Coral Springs, and Deerfield Beach. Owners in these areas bring disputes over operating agreements, partner conduct, commercial leases, and jointly owned real estate.
The team also serves clients throughout Palm Beach County, including Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, West Palm Beach, and neighboring communities. Clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who hold business or real estate interests in South Florida rely on the firm to manage the local proceedings on their behalf.
Talk With a Dania Beach Business Lawyer Before the Dispute Hardens
If a co-owner is withholding information, money is unaccounted for, or a partnership has reached a standstill, a conversation with a Dania Beach business lawyer at the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can clarify your position before deadlines and leverage shift. Call to schedule a consultation, and the team will review your agreements, explain the options under Florida law, and recommend the approach that fits your goals and budget.
