Greenacres Real Estate Title Dispute Attorney

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents property owners, investors, heirs, and former business partners in Greenacres and across Palm Beach County who find themselves in a fight over who actually owns a piece of real estate, who has a claim on it, or whether they can be released from it. A Greenacres real estate title dispute attorney earns his keep in the situations a title company cannot fix: a deed nobody can account for, a co-owner who will not sell, an old lien or a recorded instrument that clouds ownership, or a neighbor who has been using land as if it were theirs.

Title disputes in a city like Greenacres tend to start with ordinary facts. A parent dies and the home passes to several children who cannot agree on keeping or selling it. Two investors buy a rental together and one stops contributing. A family holds a lot for decades and a competing claimant surfaces with a recorded document. In each case the legal question is the same: who holds title, in what share, and what can a court do about it. Florida has distinct, well-defined proceedings for each of these problems, and picking the wrong one costs time and money.

Because Greenacres sits in Palm Beach County, these cases are heard in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, where chancery-type claims such as quiet title and partition belong. The path your case takes, and how quickly, depends on what kind of dispute you actually have.

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

The Andrew M. Andrew M. He earned his undergraduate degree at Emory University in 1986 and his law degree at the University of Miami in 1989. His career has centered on complex contract disputes, business divorces, and conflicts among partners, LLC members, and shareholders, which matters in title work because so many ownership fights grow out of a business relationship or a family arrangement that went wrong.

Andrew is joined by Senior Counsel Sundeep Nath, a Northwestern-trained litigator with years of experience in business and real estate cases in both state and federal courts. The firm practices as a true legal team, so everyone working on your matter knows the file, and a strict 24 hour return call policy applies when the lawyers are in court. The firm handles partition actions, title disputes, quiet title actions, failed closings, and purchase and sale contract disputes, and it is experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as the courtroom.

The firm’s real estate trial work is documented. After a 5-day bench trial, a Broward County circuit judge issued a 32-page final judgment awarding the firm’s client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. That kind of result comes from preparing a record in detail, which is the same discipline a contested title case demands. Many of the firm’s clients also live outside Florida, including in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, and the firm handles the local court appearances so those owners do not have to travel for every hearing. A significant part of the practice comes from referrals by other attorneys.

The Kinds of Title and Ownership Disputes We Handle

• Quiet Title Actions: A suit under Chapter 65 asks the court to declare who owns land and to cancel any deed or recorded instrument held by someone who is not the rightful owner. Florida law lets the case be filed in any county where part of the land lies, and the plaintiff generally must trace title back at least seven years before filing unless the court orders otherwise.
• Partition Between Co-Owners: When owners cannot agree, a court can divide the property or, where division would harm the owners, order a sale at public auction and split the proceeds by ownership share. Former business partners, unmarried couples, and investors in a shared property bring these cases often.
• Heirs Property: Land inherited by relatives as tenants in common may fall under Florida’s Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act, which changes how a court must handle the case and makes a forced sale harder than in an ordinary partition.
• Adverse Possession Claims: A person who occupies land openly and exclusively for seven years may claim ownership, but only if statutory requirements are met, including a filed return with a full legal description of the land claimed. These claims arise from fences, driveways, and boundary encroachments between neighboring lots.
• Clouds on Title from Fraudulent or Defective Instruments: A forged deed, a conveyance made without authority, or a stale recorded claim can block a sale or refinance. Florida provides a summary procedure for quiet title cases based on an alleged fraudulent conveyance, and the court is directed to move the case up on its calendar.
• Disputes Rooted in a Business Breakup: When an LLC or partnership owns real estate, the title fight is often really a fight among the members about authority, contributions, or misappropriated assets, which can also support dissolution or injunctive relief.
• Purchase Contract and Closing Failures: A buyer or seller who refuses to close can leave ownership in limbo. Specific performance, which asks a court to compel the sale, carries a one-year limitations period in Florida, so delay can forfeit the remedy.
• Landlord and Tenant Possession Issues: Disputes over who may occupy a property sometimes overlap with ownership questions and follow their own statutory notice rules.

What to Do When Ownership of Your Property Is in Question

Start by collecting the paper trail before anyone else controls the narrative. That means every deed, the closing statement, any title insurance policy, prior surveys, mortgage and lien documents, probate filings if the property passed through an estate, and any agreement among co-owners, even an informal one. If an LLC or partnership is involved, gather the operating agreement or partnership agreement. Then confirm what is actually recorded. Records of deeds and other instruments are kept by the Palm Beach County Clerk, and reviewing the chain of title tells you quickly whether the problem is a gap, a competing claim, or a document that should never have been recorded.

Deadlines drive strategy more than most owners expect. Florida bars a suit to recover real property unless the plaintiff or a predecessor held possession within seven years before filing. Contract claims founded on a written instrument carry a five-year limitations period, while oral or implied contract claims carry four, and rescission also carries four. Fraud claims run four years from discovery, subject to a 12-year outer limit. Specific performance of a contract is a one-year claim. Because these periods differ, the same set of facts can support several theories with very different clocks, and choosing which to bring first is a real strategic decision.

If someone is threatening to sell, mortgage, or move assets while the dispute is pending, raise it immediately. Courts can issue temporary and permanent injunctions to preserve property and company assets, and where co-owners or managers are diverting funds, an accounting and emergency relief may be available. Do not sign a quitclaim deed, a release, or a buyout offer from the other side without having it reviewed. A quitclaim can end your claim as cleanly as it ends theirs.

Expect these cases to be filed in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, which sits in and for Palm Beach County, with the main courthouse in West Palm Beach. Disputes involving value above the county court threshold belong in circuit court, and quiet title and partition are matters for the circuit’s equity jurisdiction regardless. Many owners also assume they must litigate to the end; in practice, mediation often produces a buyout, a negotiated sale, or a recorded agreement more cheaply, and the firm pursues the path most likely to meet your goals and budget rather than dragging a case out.

How Partition and Quiet Title Cases Actually Unfold

A partition complaint must describe the land, name every owner and where each lives, and state the share each holds. Once the court enters a judgment of partition, it appoints three commissioners, chosen by the court unless the parties agree on them. The commissioners examine whether the property can be divided without prejudice to the owners. If it cannot, and the court agrees, the land can be sold at public auction and the proceeds divided in proportion to each owner’s interest. The court may allow a sale on reasonable credit for good cause, but at least one-third of the purchase money must be paid down unless all parties consent otherwise.

Heirs property changes the analysis. If the real estate is held as a tenancy in common, there is no binding agreement among the cotenants about partition, at least one cotenant acquired title from a relative, and a further condition is met, such as twenty percent or more of the interests being held by relatives, the court must proceed under the heirs property statute unless every cotenant agrees otherwise. A judgment dividing the land physically is not entered unless the commissioners have weighed the statutory factors and found that dividing it would prejudice the cotenants as a group. For families who want to keep an inherited home, that framework can be the difference between losing the property at auction and retaining it.

Quiet title works differently. The plaintiff must establish a legal or equitable claim to the land and show that someone else holds, or asserts, evidence of title that should be cancelled. The obligation to trace title for at least seven years means careful research before the complaint is ever filed, and gaps in the chain are often where these cases are won or lost. When the dispute grows out of a failed business relationship, the title claim may be paired with claims for breach of fiduciary duty, an accounting, or judicial dissolution of an LLC or corporation, so one lawsuit resolves the whole breakup rather than leaving loose ends.

Questions Greenacres Property Owners Ask About Title Disputes

What is the difference between a quiet title action and a partition action?

A quiet title action asks the court to decide who owns property and to remove competing claims or defective instruments. A partition action assumes the owners are legitimate co-owners and asks the court to divide the property or sell it and split the proceeds. One resolves who owns; the other resolves what to do with shared ownership.

Can one co-owner force a sale of a house in Florida?

Yes, a co-owner can ask the court for partition. If the property cannot reasonably be divided, the court may order a sale at public auction and distribute the proceeds by ownership interest. Heirs property follows a separate statutory procedure that makes a forced sale harder.

What counts as heirs property?

Generally it is land held as a tenancy in common with no binding agreement among the cotenants about partition, where at least one cotenant got title from a relative and another statutory condition applies, such as twenty percent or more of the interests being held by relatives. If the property qualifies, the court must use the heirs property rules unless all cotenants agree otherwise in a record.

How long do I have to bring a quiet title case?

There is no single clock, because it depends on the underlying claim. A suit to recover real property is barred unless you or a predecessor was in possession within seven years before filing, and contract, fraud, and specific performance theories carry their own deadlines. An early review of the facts keeps you from losing a claim to timing.

What must I show to win a claim of adverse possession?

Without a written document backing the claim, you generally need actual, continued possession for seven years under a claim of title that is exclusive of any other right. The claimant must also file a return with the property appraiser that includes a complete legal description of the land. If the claim rests on an instrument, it is treated as under color of title only once that instrument is recorded in the county where the property sits.

Can a deed be challenged if I think it was forged?

Yes. A quiet title proceeding can ask the court to cancel a conveyance or other evidence of title held by someone who is not the rightful owner. When the allegation is a fraudulent attempted conveyance, Florida allows a summary procedure, and the court is directed to advance the case on its calendar.

What happens if my co-owner is also my business partner and is hiding money?

Title and finances often travel together. Claims for an accounting, breach of fiduciary duty, and recovery of diverted funds can be brought alongside the property claim, and a court can order injunctive relief to stop assets from being moved or spent while the case is pending. If an LLC owns the property, misappropriation or waste of company assets is also a recognized ground for judicial dissolution.

Can the dispute be settled without a trial?

Often it can. Negotiated buyouts, agreed sales, and mediated settlements resolve many ownership disputes, particularly among family members and former partners who still have a relationship worth preserving. The firm has experience in mediation and arbitration as well as litigation and will recommend whichever route best fits your goals.

I live in New York or New Jersey and own property near Greenacres. Do I have to come to Florida for hearings?

Not for every proceeding. The firm regularly represents owners from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, handles the local court appearances, and keeps you informed at each stage, so you can protect your interest without traveling for every hearing.

Do I need a lawyer if the title problem seems small?

A small-looking defect can block a sale or refinance, and signing the wrong document or missing a deadline can permanently weaken your position. A short review of the recorded history and your options usually tells you whether the fix is a simple corrective instrument or a court filing.

Which federal court could hear a title dispute involving Palm Beach County property?

Most title cases belong in state circuit court. When federal jurisdiction is properly present, for example in certain disputes involving parties from different states, the Southern District of Florida covers Palm Beach County and holds court in West Palm Beach. The firm’s lawyers have handled business and real estate matters in both state and federal courts.

Serving Real Estate Title Dispute Clients Throughout Palm Beach County and South Florida

The firm’s work begins in Greenacres and extends through the neighboring communities of Lake Worth Beach, Lantana, Atlantis, Palm Springs, and Haverhill, then outward through Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, Boynton Beach, and Delray Beach. Clients also come from West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, Riviera Beach, and Boca Raton, along with the western reaches of the county around Belle Glade. Across Palm Beach County, we represent owners in partition suits, quiet title cases, and ownership fights tied to business and family breakups.

The firm also serves Broward County, including Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Coral Springs, and the surrounding communities, where its lawyers have tried commercial real estate cases. Out-of-state owners with property or business interests in South Florida, including clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, are a regular part of the practice.

Talk With a Greenacres Real Estate Title Dispute Lawyer

When ownership of a property is contested, the sooner the facts are laid out against the recorded history, the more options you keep. If you are looking for a Greenacres real estate title dispute lawyer who handles partition, quiet title, and the business and family conflicts that cause them, call the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team to discuss your situation. We answer the phone, return calls within 24 hours if we are in court, and will tell you plainly whether your case calls for negotiation, mediation, or a lawsuit.