Dania Beach Business Divorce Attorney

Two owners of a Dania Beach company stop speaking except through email, one of them controls the bank account, and the other has no idea whether this month’s distributions will ever show up. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team handles business divorce, partnership and LLC member disputes, and related business and real estate litigation for owners and investors in Dania Beach, Broward County, and across South Florida.

A Dania Beach business divorce attorney is typically brought in at the moment when the ownership relationship has broken down but the company, the lease, the inventory, or the property still has to function. Florida law gives co-owners real tools for this situation, including court-ordered dissolution, forced buyouts at fair value, receivers and custodians, and injunctions. Which tool fits depends on whether the company is an LLC or a corporation, what the governing documents say, and how much damage has already been done.

Dania Beach sits in Broward County, so a lawsuit over a Dania Beach business generally belongs in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, which sits in and for Broward County. That court has a complex business division that handles, among other things, dissolution of certain business entities and large business disputes, and it matters when the dispute involves real money and real operations.

How Florida Law Lets Co-Owners Separate: LLCs Versus Corporations

The first question in any business divorce is what kind of entity is involved, because Florida treats LLCs and corporations under different statutes with different remedies.

For an LLC, a member or manager can ask the circuit court to dissolve the company on several grounds. These include that the company’s activities are being conducted unlawfully, that it is not reasonably practicable to carry on the business consistent with the articles and operating agreement, that those in control have acted or are expected to act illegally or fraudulently, that company assets are being misappropriated or wasted and causing injury, or that the managers or members are deadlocked, cannot break the deadlock, and the company is suffering or threatened with irreparable injury. Once a dissolution proceeding has enough merit to proceed, the court can appoint a receiver or custodian after notice and a hearing, or order that the petitioning member’s interest be purchased.

One wrinkle catches people off guard. If the operating agreement already contains a deadlock sale mechanism, and someone starts it before the court finds that the deadlock ground exists, that contractual mechanism controls instead of a judicial dissolution order or a court-ordered buyout. A buy-sell clause you signed years ago may decide how this ends.

For corporations, a shareholder can seek judicial dissolution or another statutory remedy in circuit court. Once a shareholder files on the oppression-type grounds, the corporation or the remaining shareholders can elect to buy the petitioner out at fair value, which can avoid dissolution entirely. Within 30 days of the filing, the corporation must notify the other shareholders that they can avoid dissolution by electing to buy. If the parties agree on fair value and terms within 60 days after the first election is filed, the court enters an order directing the purchase on those terms. An election to purchase is irrevocable unless the court finds it equitable to set it aside or modify it. While the case is pending, the court can issue injunctions, appoint a receiver or custodian, and take other steps to preserve corporate assets.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for a Business Divorce

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents business owners, investors, and families in South Florida’s difficult business and real estate disputes, and the firm has done so for decades. Founder Andrew M. Schwartz has spent 37 years in litigation and has practiced in Florida since being admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989. His career has been built around complex contract disputes, business divorces, and conflicts among partners, LLC members, and shareholders. He earned his undergraduate degree at Emory University in 1986 and his law degree at the University of Miami in 1989. He is joined by Senior Counsel Sundeep Nath, a Northwestern-trained litigator with years of experience handling business and real estate cases in state and federal courts.

The firm practices as a true legal team, meaning everyone working on a matter knows the file and can answer when a client calls. There is a strict 24 hour return call policy when the attorneys are in court or otherwise unavailable. Clients are often surprised to hear Mr. Schwartz say that most people who walk in asking for a hyper-aggressive lawyer actually want one who acts as the situation requires and uses finesse when finesse will do, with a cost-effective result rather than fees that outweigh common sense. The attorneys are experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as courtroom litigation, and they look for the resolution that fits the client’s goals and budget.

On the trial side, the firm recently 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 result reflects the kind of detailed, document-driven preparation that business divorce cases demand, where the outcome often turns on the exact wording of an agreement and the history between the parties.

Disputes That Lead Dania Beach Owners to Seek a Business Divorce

• Deadlocked Management: Two 50/50 owners disagree on a major decision and neither can outvote the other. Operations stall, vendors go unpaid, and the LLC statute’s deadlock ground, along with any buy-sell clause in the operating agreement, becomes the central issue.
• Buyouts and Valuation Fights: One owner wants out, or wants the other out, and the real dispute is the price. Fair value in a corporate buyout and the valuation method in an operating agreement can produce very different numbers.
• Diverted or Missing Company Funds: A partner or manager cannot account for money, distributions stop, or personal expenses run through company accounts. These cases support claims for an accounting, breach of fiduciary duty, and recovery of funds.
• Breach of Operating or Shareholder Agreements: An owner ignores consent requirements, sells an interest in violation of transfer restrictions, or competes with the company. The agreement’s wording and the parties’ course of dealing drive these cases.
• Minority Owner Squeeze-Outs: A controlling owner cuts a minority member out of information, compensation, and decisions. Florida’s dissolution grounds and buyout mechanisms exist for exactly this imbalance.
• Family Business Breakups: Siblings who inherited a company, parents and children with different visions, or spouses and in-laws who share ownership. These cases carry personal weight, and they call for discretion alongside firm protection of the client’s financial interests.
• Shared Real Estate Between Former Partners: A building or parcel is held jointly after the business ends. Florida partition actions let the court divide the property or order it sold and the proceeds divided, and title or quiet title claims can resolve competing ownership.
• Emergency Asset Protection: When money or property is being moved or spent while the dispute is pending, temporary and permanent injunctions can freeze the situation until the court decides.

What to Do Right Now if Your Business Partnership Is Falling Apart

Start by collecting the documents that define your rights: the articles of organization or incorporation, the operating agreement or shareholder agreement, any buy-sell or deadlock provision, loan guarantees, leases, and your tax returns for the company. Pull bank statements, accounting records, and distribution histories you are legally entitled to see. Do this before the relationship deteriorates further, because access tends to disappear once a dispute becomes open conflict. Do not take anything you are not entitled to, and do not delete or alter records. Preserve emails and texts.

Watch the clock. Florida’s limitations periods vary by claim. A contract action founded on a written instrument has five years, while a contract claim based on an oral or implied agreement has four. Fraud claims have four years from discovery, with an outer limit of twelve years. A claim for specific performance has just one year. Because a single business dispute often involves several of these claims at once, waiting to see how things develop can cost you part of your case.

Read your operating agreement for dispute resolution clauses before filing anything. Many agreements require mediation or arbitration first, and some contain a deadlock sale procedure that, once started, can displace a court-ordered remedy. Initiating the wrong process, or missing a notice requirement, can hand the other side an early advantage.

Avoid the common mistakes: confronting a partner by email in ways that create a damaging record, locking the other owner out of the premises or systems, moving company funds to protect them, or signing a buyout term sheet without a valuation. If money is leaving the company right now, ask about emergency injunctive relief early rather than late.

For a Dania Beach company, a lawsuit is generally filed in the Broward County Circuit Court, which sits in Fort Lauderdale for civil matters, and circuit court is where disputes above the county court limit are heard. Cases involving dissolution of business entities or large business disputes may be directed to the Seventeenth Circuit’s complex business division, and the clerk randomly assigns a directly filed complex case to one of its divisions. If the dispute involves federal claims or diverse parties, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida holds court in Fort Lauderdale as well. Where a Dania Beach owner also holds property or a business interest in Palm Beach County, the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit sits in and for that county.

Real Estate Held Between Former Partners: Partition and Quiet Title

Many business divorces leave a parcel, building, or investment property jointly owned. Florida partition law, found in Chapter 64, puts these actions in chancery. The complaint must describe the land, identify each owner and where they live, and state each owner’s share. If the court orders partition, it appoints three commissioners, chosen by the court unless the parties agree. If the commissioners conclude the land cannot be divided without prejudice to the owners, the court can order it sold at public auction and divide the proceeds in proportion to ownership. If the court allows a sale on credit for good cause, at least one-third of the purchase price must be paid down unless everyone consents otherwise.

If the property came from a relative and is held as tenants in common, Florida’s Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act can apply instead. It adds protections designed to keep a court from forcing a sale when other cotenants want to keep the property, and it generally steers the case toward fair-market-value buyouts and partition in kind before auction.

Quiet title is the companion remedy when ownership itself is clouded. Under Chapter 65, a person claiming title can ask the court to cancel a conveyance or other evidence of title held by someone who is not the rightful owner, and the complaint can be filed in any county where part of the land lies. The plaintiff generally must trace title for at least seven years before filing unless the court orders otherwise.

Frequently Asked Questions About Business Divorce in Dania Beach

What exactly 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 a court force the end of my LLC?

A Florida circuit court can dissolve an LLC when a member or manager shows grounds such as deadlock with irreparable injury, misappropriation or waste of assets, illegal or fraudulent conduct by those in control, or that carrying on the business under the operating agreement is not reasonably practicable. The court can also appoint a receiver or custodian or order a buyout instead.

Can I force a partner out of an LLC?

That depends first on your operating agreement, which may contain expulsion, buyout, or dissociation provisions, and then on the conduct involved. Florida law provides court remedies for serious misconduct or when the company can no longer function.

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. When assets are at risk right now, a court can issue injunctive relief to stop them from being moved or spent while the dispute is pending.

Does every business divorce end up in court?

No. Many resolve through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, and many operating agreements require one of those first. The firm’s attorneys are experienced in both and pursue whichever path is most likely to meet your goals efficiently.

If I ask for dissolution of a corporation, can the other shareholders just buy me out?

Yes. In a shareholder-initiated proceeding on the oppression-type grounds, the corporation or one or more shareholders can elect to buy all of the petitioner’s shares at fair value, which can avoid dissolution. If the parties agree on value and terms within 60 days of the first election, the court enters an order on those terms.

My operating agreement has a buy-sell or deadlock clause. Does that override a lawsuit?

Often it matters a great deal. For LLCs, a deadlock sale provision that is initiated before the court determines the deadlock ground exists applies in place of a judicial dissolution order or a court-ordered purchase of the petitioner’s interest, provided it is then carried through. Read the clause and talk to counsel before you or the other side triggers it.

How long do I have to sue my partner for breaching our written agreement?

Five years for a claim founded on a written instrument, and four years if the agreement was oral or implied. Specific performance claims carry a one-year period, and fraud runs four years from discovery with a twelve-year cap. Because different claims in one dispute can carry different deadlines, do not assume the longest one applies to everything.

Which court would hear my Dania Beach business dispute?

Generally the circuit court for Broward County, part of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, when the amount in controversy exceeds the county court limit or when equitable relief like dissolution or an injunction is sought. Large business disputes and entity dissolution cases may go to the complex business division. Federal court is available only where federal jurisdiction exists.

Will I have to keep flying down for hearings if my business partner is in South Florida and I live elsewhere?

No. The firm regularly represents clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who have business or real estate interests in South Florida. The attorneys handle the local court appearances and keep you informed at each stage so you do not have to travel for every hearing.

Is it worth hiring a lawyer before things become a lawsuit?

Often, yes. A lawyer who reviews your agreements early can tell you what remedies exist, whether a contractual buyout path controls, and how to preserve evidence. The firm also offers an outside general counsel program for businesses that want a litigator involved before a disagreement hardens into a case.

Do you work with other attorneys on business divorce matters?

Yes. A significant part of the firm’s practice comes from referrals by other lawyers, including out-of-state counsel whose clients have Florida disputes and Florida attorneys who do not handle business litigation. The firm communicates with referring counsel throughout and respects their relationship with the client.

Serving Business Divorce Clients Across Dania Beach and Broward County

The firm’s work for Dania Beach owners starts with the city’s commercial corridors and marine, aviation-adjacent, and industrial businesses, and extends outward through Broward County. Clients come from neighboring Hollywood, Hallandale Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and Davie, as well as Pembroke Pines, Miramar, Plantation, Sunrise, Coral Springs, Pompano Beach, and Deerfield Beach. The firm also represents owners in Lauderhill, Oakland Park, Wilton Manors, Tamarac, and Weston.

North into Palm Beach County, the team serves clients in Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, West Palm Beach, and the communities in between.

Speak With a Dania Beach Business Divorce Lawyer

If your business partner has stopped cooperating, company money is missing, or you and a co-owner can no longer run the company together, a conversation with a Dania Beach business divorce lawyer early in the dispute can shape every option that follows. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can review your agreements, explain the remedies Florida law provides, and recommend a path that fits your goals and budget. Call the firm to schedule a consultation.