Deerfield Beach Breach of Fiduciary Duty Attorney

A fiduciary duty claim is rarely about a single bad act. It is about someone who was trusted with control over money, decisions, or information and used that position for themselves. If you suspect that a partner, co-member, manager, or officer in Deerfield Beach has done that, you need a Deerfield Beach breach of fiduciary duty attorney who can tell the difference between a bitter disagreement and a legally actionable betrayal. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team handles business and real estate disputes for owners, investors, and families in Deerfield Beach, across Broward County and Palm Beach County, and throughout South Florida.

The distinction matters because owners often come to us after months of unexplained numbers, missing distributions, or decisions made behind their backs. Not every unhappy owner has a claim. But when someone who owed you loyalty and candor diverted funds, self-dealt, hid information, or squeezed you out, Florida law gives you real remedies, including an accounting, recovery of money, injunctive relief, and in the right case the end of the business relationship itself.

The decisions you make early, what to document, whether to confront the other owner, whether to ask a court to freeze assets, can shape the whole case.

What a Fiduciary Owes You, and What a Breach Looks Like

A fiduciary is someone legally bound to put another party’s interests ahead of their own in a defined relationship. In a business setting, that typically means managers of an LLC, directors and officers of a corporation, and partners toward one another. Majority owners can also owe duties to minority owners in certain circumstances, and that is where many disputes in closely held companies start.

The core duties are loyalty and care. Loyalty means not using the company for personal gain at the company’s or co-owners’ expense. Care means acting with reasonable diligence in running the business. A breach claim generally requires showing the duty existed, that it was violated, and that the violation caused you or the company harm. What the duty includes in a particular company often depends on the operating agreement or shareholder agreement, so the documents matter as much as the conduct.

One decision you will face is whether the claim belongs to you personally or to the company. Some harm, like siphoning company funds, injures the entity first and owners indirectly. Other harm, like being cut out of distributions that others received, may be personal to you. How the claim is framed affects who can sue, who recovers, and what defenses the other side can raise, so it deserves careful thought before anything is filed.

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

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents business owners, investors, and families in South Florida’s most difficult business and real estate disputes, serving clients in Deerfield Beach, Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, and throughout Broward County and Palm Beach County. Andrew M. Schwartz, the firm’s founder, has spent 37 years in litigation, and his career has been built around complex contract disputes, business divorces, and conflicts between partners, LLC members, and shareholders. He was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989, earned his undergraduate degree from Emory University in 1986, and received his law degree from the University of Miami in 1989.

Fiduciary duty claims sit at the center of that experience. They usually travel with other claims: breach of an operating or shareholder agreement, an accounting, recovery of diverted funds, and sometimes judicial dissolution. The firm handles all of these together. Sundeep Nath, Senior Counsel, is a Northwestern-trained litigator with years of experience in business and real estate cases in state and federal courts, which matters when a dispute could land in either system.

The firm practices as a true legal team, so everyone working on your file knows it and can respond when you call. We keep a strict 24 hour return call policy. Our attorneys are experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as courtroom litigation, and we look for the resolution that serves the client’s goals and budget rather than drawing out a case for its own sake. The firm also obtained a final judgment after a five-day bench trial in Broward County Circuit Court, a 32-page ruling awarding our client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract, which reflects the firm’s comfort taking complex business disputes all the way through trial.

Situations That Commonly Give Rise to Fiduciary Duty Claims

• Diverted or Missing Company Funds: A partner or manager moves money to personal accounts, pays personal expenses through the business, or cannot explain where revenue went. These cases often combine a fiduciary claim with a demand for an accounting and, where assets are at risk, a request for emergency relief.
• Self-Dealing Transactions: An owner steers company contracts, leases, or property sales to a business they secretly control, or to a relative, at terms that favor themselves over the company.
• Squeeze-Outs of Minority Owners: A controlling member or shareholder cuts a minority owner out of information, distributions, or decision-making, or dilutes their interest, in order to force a cheap buyout.
• Unpaid Distributions and Disputed Capital Contributions: Profits are withheld or recharacterized as salary or expenses, or one owner’s contributions are ignored when splits are calculated.
• Usurped Business Opportunities: A partner diverts a deal, client, or property purchase that rightfully belonged to the company and takes it for themselves.
• Concealment and Refusal to Provide Records: A manager stonewalls on books, tax returns, bank statements, or financial reports, leaving other owners unable to see what is happening.
• Family Business Betrayals: Siblings, parents and children, or in-laws who share ownership and one of them treats the company as a personal account. These cases carry personal weight and call for discretion alongside firm financial protection.
• Waste and Mismanagement: Assets are wasted or misappropriated in ways that injure the company, which can also support judicial dissolution of an LLC where the statutory grounds are met.

What to Do If You Suspect an Owner or Manager Is Breaching Their Duties

Start by securing information before anyone knows you are concerned. Gather your operating agreement or shareholder agreement, formation documents, tax returns, K-1s, bank and credit card statements you have lawful access to, financial reports, and emails or texts that touch on money, decisions, or promises. Note dates. Do not take records you are not entitled to, and do not log into accounts you have lost authorization to use; that can create problems for you.

Be careful about confronting the other owner first. A direct accusation can prompt document deletion, asset transfers, or retaliatory moves like cutting off your access. If funds are actively leaving the business, speed matters, and a court can issue emergency or temporary injunctive relief to stop assets from being moved or spent while the case is pending. That decision is better made with an attorney than after a heated phone call.

Deadlines are real. In Florida, an action founded on a written instrument has a five-year limitations period, while a contract claim not founded on a written instrument has four years. Fraud claims carry a four-year period measured from discovery, subject to an outer cap of 12 years. Negligence-based claims are now limited to two years, and a professional malpractice claim has its own two-year discovery-based period. Which period applies to a fiduciary claim depends on how it is pleaded and what facts support it, which is one more reason not to wait.

On where the case is heard: circuit court handles disputes above the county court limit, and Deerfield Beach sits in Broward County, which is part of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit. Broward’s North Regional Courthouse is in Deerfield Beach, and the Central Judicial Complex is in Fort Lauderdale. The Seventeenth Circuit also maintains complex business divisions that handle large business litigation and certain entity dissolution matters. Cases involving Palm Beach County parties or property would be in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, and some disputes can end up in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. We assess early which forum fits your facts.

Finally, think about your goal before choosing your strategy. Some owners want money back. Some want out on fair terms. Some want the business preserved and the offender removed. Each goal points toward a different mix of claims, from an accounting and damages, to a negotiated buyout, to judicial dissolution.

When Fiduciary Breaches Lead to Dissolution or a Forced Buyout

Sometimes the damage to the relationship cannot be repaired. Under Florida’s LLC statute, a member or manager can ask a circuit court to dissolve the company on specified grounds, including that it is not reasonably practicable to carry on the business under the operating agreement, that controlling members or managers have acted or are expected to act illegally or fraudulently, that assets are being misappropriated or wasted to the company’s injury, or that the owners are deadlocked and irreparable injury is threatened. The court may also appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing, or order a purchase of the petitioning member’s interest.

Corporations have a parallel framework. A shareholder can seek judicial dissolution on statutory grounds, and the corporation or other shareholders can elect to buy the petitioner’s shares at fair value, which can short-circuit dissolution. If the parties agree on value and terms within 60 days of the first election, the court enters an order on those terms; otherwise the court sets fair value. Those elections are irrevocable unless the court finds it equitable to set them aside. A buy-sell or deadlock sale provision in your agreement may also control how an exit happens, so the agreement should be reviewed before any filing.

Questions Owners Ask About Fiduciary Duty Claims

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

It occurs when someone who owes a duty of loyalty or care to a company or its owners acts in their own interest or fails to act with reasonable diligence, and that conduct causes harm. Typical examples are self-dealing, diverting funds, usurping opportunities, and concealing information.

Who counts as a fiduciary in a closely held company?

Managers and managing members of an LLC, directors and officers of a corporation, and partners in a partnership generally owe fiduciary duties. In some circumstances, controlling owners may owe duties to minority owners. The specifics depend on the entity type and the governing documents.

Can my operating agreement limit fiduciary duties?

Florida’s LLC law gives owners meaningful room to define duties in the operating agreement, but there are limits, and the language must be read closely. Provisions that attempt to waive or narrow duties are a frequent battleground, so we review the exact wording before advising on a claim.

What can I recover if I win?

Remedies can include recovery of misappropriated money, damages for losses caused by the breach, an accounting of company finances, and equitable relief such as injunctions. In dissolution proceedings, a court may order a buyout or appoint a receiver or custodian. What is realistic depends on the evidence and the facts of your company.

How long do I have to file a claim?

It depends on how the claim is framed. A claim founded on a written instrument has a five-year period, one not founded on a written instrument has four years, and fraud has four years from discovery with a 12-year outer limit. Because the right period turns on the facts and the theory pleaded, waiting is risky.

Can I get a court to freeze company assets while the case is pending?

Yes, in appropriate cases. Courts can grant temporary and permanent injunctions, including early or emergency relief, to stop assets from being moved or spent. The showing required is demanding, so documentation matters.

What if my partner is also a family member?

The legal analysis is the same, but the handling differs. These cases carry emotional weight and often benefit from mediation or a negotiated separation where that serves your goals, while still protecting your financial interest at every step.

Is a forensic accounting necessary?

Often, when money is missing or the books are unreliable. An accounting claim can compel the other side to explain where funds went, and a financial professional can trace transactions and quantify loss. Whether it is worth the cost depends on the size of the dispute.

Will this have to go to trial?

Not necessarily. Many disputes resolve through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, especially when an operating agreement requires it. We prepare as if the case may be tried, since that preparation tends to produce better settlement leverage.

I live in New York or New Jersey but own part of a Deerfield Beach business. Can you handle this?

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

Do you work with other attorneys on referred cases?

Yes. A significant part of our practice comes from referrals by other lawyers, including out-of-state attorneys whose clients have Florida disputes. We communicate with referring counsel throughout and respect their relationship with the client.

Serving Fiduciary Duty Clients Across Deerfield Beach and South Florida

We represent business owners and investors in Deerfield Beach and throughout Broward County, including Pompano Beach, Lighthouse Point, Hillsboro Beach, Coconut Creek, Coral Springs, Parkland, Margate, Tamarac, Sunrise, Plantation, Davie, Hollywood, and Fort Lauderdale. Our work also extends north into Palm Beach County, serving clients in Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Lake Worth, West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, and Jupiter, as well as communities throughout South Florida.

Whether the company is a family-run operation in Deerfield Beach, a real estate partnership with property in Broward or Palm Beach County, or a closely held company with partners scattered across the region, we meet clients where the dispute sits.

Talk With a Deerfield Beach Breach of Fiduciary Duty Lawyer

If you believe a partner, co-member, or manager has betrayed the trust placed in them, a conversation with a Deerfield Beach breach of fiduciary duty lawyer at the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can clarify whether you have a claim, what it could recover, and which deadlines are running. We will review your agreements and the facts as you know them, and tell you candidly which path fits your goals and budget.

Call the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team to schedule a consultation. We answer the phone, and if we are in court, we return calls within 24 hours.