Hallandale Beach Breach of Fiduciary Duty Attorney

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents business owners, investors, and families in Hallandale Beach and across Broward County and Palm Beach County who have discovered that someone they trusted with company money, property, or decision-making put their own interests first. Our work centers on partner and member disputes, business divorce, and claims over missing funds, and we handle those cases in the state and federal courts that serve South Florida.

A Hallandale Beach breach of fiduciary duty attorney is usually called when the numbers stop adding up. Distributions that used to arrive stop arriving. A co-owner who controls the books cannot explain where the cash went. A manager signs a deal that benefits a company he or she secretly owns. Hallandale Beach sits in a market built on condominiums, rental property, hospitality, and small family-run companies, and that mix produces exactly these disputes: co-owners with unequal access to information and one person holding the checkbook.

The claim itself is straightforward in concept. When one person owes loyalty and care to another, as a manager does to LLC members or a majority shareholder may to minority owners, self-dealing, waste, and concealment can support a lawsuit. What makes these cases difficult is proof, speed, and choosing the right remedy before assets disappear.

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

The Andrew M. Andrew M. Schwartz, the firm’s founder, has spent 37 years in litigation and was 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 from Emory University in 1986 and his law degree from the University of Miami in 1989.

Sundeep Nath, Senior Counsel, is a Northwestern-trained litigator with years of experience in business and real estate cases in state and federal courts. That matters here because fiduciary claims sometimes move between forums, and the same lawyers who built the case should be able to try it.

The firm practices as a true legal team, so everyone working on your matter knows the file. We keep a strict 24 hour return call policy and will schedule conference calls at times that work for you. We are also experienced in mediation and arbitration, and we look for the resolution that serves your goals and budget rather than stretching a case out for its own sake.

Relevant proof of trial work: after a 5-day bench trial, a Broward County circuit court issued a 32-page final judgment awarding our client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. Disputes between owners and fiduciaries are won the same way, with careful preparation of documents and the history of the parties’ dealings.

Situations That Give Rise to Fiduciary Duty Claims Among Owners

• Diverted Company Funds: A manager or partner moves money into personal accounts, pays personal expenses from the business, or routes payments to a side entity. These claims often pair breach of fiduciary duty with a demand for an accounting and recovery of the funds.
• Self-Dealing Transactions: An owner causes the company to buy from, sell to, or lease from a business he or she controls on terms that favor the insider. Condo-related and rental real estate ventures around Hallandale Beach commonly involve this pattern.
• Freeze-Outs of Minority Owners: A controlling member or shareholder cuts a minority owner out of management, withholds distributions, or denies access to books and records while continuing to draw compensation.
• Unpaid Distributions and Disputed Capital Contributions: Profits are retained or redirected, or one owner claims a contribution was a loan while another says it was equity. Operating agreements and bank records usually decide who is right.
• Commingled Accounts: Company and personal money are mixed so thoroughly that no one can trace where funds went. Commingling is often the first visible sign that something larger is wrong.
• Usurped Business Opportunities: A partner takes a deal, property, or client that belonged to the company and keeps the benefit personally.
• Family Business Betrayals: Siblings, parents and children, or in-laws who share ownership face the same loyalty questions, with the added weight of family relationships. We handle these with discretion while protecting your financial position.
• Waste and Mismanagement: Assets are neglected, spent recklessly, or allowed to be lost. Florida’s LLC statute lists misappropriation or waste of assets causing injury as a ground for judicial dissolution.

What to Do Now if You Suspect a Partner or Manager Is Betraying Your Trust

Start by securing information, not by confronting the person. Gather your operating agreement, shareholder agreement, partnership agreement, tax returns, bank statements, loan documents, and any emails or texts that discuss money. If you have legitimate access to accounting software or online banking, save copies of what you are entitled to see. Do not take documents or log into systems you are not authorized to use. Self-help can hand the other side a counterclaim.

Next, decide how fast you need to move. If funds or property are actively leaving the company, waiting is a decision with consequences. Florida courts can issue temporary injunctions to stop assets from being moved or spent while a dispute is pending, and in a dissolution proceeding a court can appoint a receiver or custodian after notice to the parties and a hearing. These remedies depend on early, well-documented evidence.

Watch your deadlines. A claim founded on a written instrument, such as an operating agreement, carries a five-year limitations period under Florida law. A contract claim not founded on a written instrument carries four years, and a fraud claim runs four years from discovery, capped at 12 years. Fiduciary claims can overlap with these categories, so the safest course is to have a lawyer evaluate your timeline early instead of assuming you have years.

Finally, avoid the common mistakes: signing a buyout or release before you know what is missing, firing the other owner without checking what your agreement allows, and letting months pass while a partner continues to control the books. Check what your agreement says about dispute resolution too, since some require mediation or arbitration before a lawsuit.

Where your case is filed depends on the parties and the property. Disputes involving Hallandale Beach businesses typically belong in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, which sits in and for Broward County. That circuit has a complex business division that handles, among other matters, dissolution of certain business entities and large business litigation. Cases tied to Palm Beach County go to the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit. Claims that meet federal jurisdictional requirements may proceed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, which holds court in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. Circuit court generally handles disputes above $50,000, and the amount in controversy affects whether a claim belongs in county court or circuit court.

Remedies When an Owner or Manager Breaches Loyalty

A fiduciary claim is rarely just a demand for money. Depending on the facts, we may pursue an accounting to force a full reckoning of company funds, recovery of diverted money or property, damages for losses caused by self-dealing, and injunctive relief to freeze assets or stop a transaction. Where the relationship cannot continue, the remedy may be structural: a negotiated buyout, a wind-down, or judicial dissolution.

For LLCs, Florida law allows a manager or member to ask a circuit court to dissolve the company on several grounds, including that assets are being misappropriated or wasted, that controlling managers or members have acted or are reasonably expected to act illegally or fraudulently, or that owners are deadlocked and irreparable injury to the company is threatened or being suffered. In that proceeding the court can appoint a receiver or custodian or order a purchase of the petitioning member’s interest. If your operating agreement contains a deadlock sale provision that is initiated before the court finds deadlock, that provision can take the place of a dissolution order.

For corporations, a shareholder may petition for dissolution on statutory grounds, and the corporation or other shareholders can elect to buy 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 directing the purchase on those terms. During the case, the court may issue injunctions and appoint a receiver or custodian to preserve corporate assets.

Each path has tradeoffs in cost, speed, and what you end up owning. The right choice depends on whether you want out, want the other person out, or want the company to survive with the wrongdoing stopped.

Questions About Breach of Fiduciary Duty Claims in Hallandale Beach

What is a breach of fiduciary duty?

It occurs when someone who owes duties of loyalty and care to others, such as a manager, partner, or controlling owner, acts for personal gain or fails to meet those duties and causes harm. Typical examples are self-dealing, hiding financial information, and diverting company money.

Who can be sued as a fiduciary in a business?

That depends on the entity and the agreement. Partners, managers, managing members, officers, directors, and sometimes controlling owners can owe fiduciary duties. We review your governing documents and the person’s actual role and control to determine who owes what.

What can I recover?

Possible remedies include an accounting, recovery of diverted funds, damages for losses caused by the breach, injunctive relief, and in some cases a buyout or dissolution of the company. The available remedies depend on the facts and what your agreement provides.

How long do I have to file?

It depends on how the claim is characterized. Florida’s five-year period applies to actions founded on a written instrument, four years applies to claims not founded on a written instrument, and fraud claims run four years from discovery, capped at 12 years. Because claims can overlap categories, get your timeline reviewed promptly.

Can a court stop my partner from moving money while the case is pending?

Yes, in appropriate cases. Florida courts can issue temporary injunctions to prevent assets from being moved or spent during litigation. Success usually turns on how quickly you act and how well you can document the risk.

Do I need my own lawsuit, or can the company sue?

Sometimes the harm is to the company and the claim is brought on its behalf, and sometimes the harm is to you directly as an owner. How the claim is framed affects who recovers and what you must prove, which is why we analyze it before filing.

My operating agreement has an arbitration clause. Does that block a lawsuit?

Often it redirects the dispute rather than ending it. Many agreements require mediation or arbitration first. We review the clause and decide whether to proceed that way or seek emergency court relief to protect assets while arbitration proceeds.

Can I be locked out of the books if I am a minority owner?

Not automatically, and a refusal to share financial information is often evidence in itself. Owners generally have rights to company records, and being shut out of them can support claims and strengthen a request for court intervention.

What if the person who took the money is a family member?

The legal analysis is the same, but the strategy often differs. Many family clients want the money recovered and the damage contained without a public fight, so we look at negotiated buyouts, mediation, and discreet resolution before litigation where it makes sense.

How long will a fiduciary duty case take?

It varies widely. A case settled through mediation can resolve in months, while a contested case that goes to trial takes considerably longer. Forensic accounting, discovery fights, and the court’s calendar all affect timing, and we discuss realistic expectations with you after reviewing your documents.

I live in New York or New Jersey. Can you handle my Hallandale Beach case?

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

Serving Hallandale Beach and Surrounding Fiduciary Duty Clients

Our work for Hallandale Beach clients extends along the Broward County coast and inland. We represent owners in Hallandale Beach itself and in neighboring Hollywood, Dania Beach, Aventura, and Sunny Isles Beach, as well as Pembroke Pines, Miramar, Davie, Plantation, Sunrise, and Weston. Further north we serve clients in Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Coral Springs, and Parkland.

The firm also serves Palm Beach County, including Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Lake Worth, and West Palm Beach. Many of our clients live elsewhere, including New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, while holding business interests or real estate in South Florida, and we represent them throughout the region.

Talk With a Hallandale Beach Fiduciary Duty Attorney Before Assets Move

If you believe a partner, manager, or co-owner has breached the trust placed in them, the best time to get advice is before more money leaves or evidence goes missing. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can review your agreements and records, explain which claims and remedies fit, and tell you plainly what a realistic path looks like.

Call to speak with a Hallandale Beach breach of fiduciary duty lawyer about your situation. We return calls within 24 hours, and we will work toward the result that serves your goals and your budget.