Hollywood Business Divorce Attorney

When two owners in a Hollywood company stop agreeing on money, control, or whether the business should continue, every week of drift costs something: vendors go unpaid, decisions stall, and one side may start moving funds or customers. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team handles business litigation and real estate disputes for owners, investors, and families across Broward County, Palm Beach County, and the rest of South Florida, and a Hollywood business divorce attorney from our firm can help you decide whether to fight for the company, buy out your partner, or separate on the best terms available.

A business divorce is not one lawsuit with one outcome. It can end in a negotiated buyout, a sale of the whole company, a managed wind-down, or a court order dissolving the entity. Which of those is realistic depends on what the operating agreement or shareholder agreement says, whether you are a controlling owner or a minority owner, whether there is a deadlock or active misconduct, and how fast the company’s assets are at risk. The early choices, especially what you file, what you sign, and what you tell your partner, shape everything that follows.

Hollywood is a city of closely held companies: restaurants and hospitality ventures, medical and professional practices, property-holding LLCs, trade and construction businesses, and family enterprises passed from one generation to the next. These owners often built their companies on handshake understandings and thin paperwork, which is exactly why disputes become expensive. Cases in this setting are typically heard in the Circuit Court of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, sitting in and for Broward County, and our team handles them from first demand letter through trial.

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

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents business owners, investors, and families in some of South Florida’s most difficult business and real estate disputes, with clients in Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, and throughout Broward and Palm Beach Counties. 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 between 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.

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. That matters in a business divorce because these disputes sometimes cross into federal court, and because they usually combine several claims at once: contract, fiduciary duty, accounting, and often real estate. The firm practices as a true legal team, meaning everyone working on your matter knows the file, and we keep a strict 24 hour return call policy when we are in court or unavailable.

Our results include a recent Broward County Circuit Court judgment following a 5-day bench trial, in which the court issued a 32-page final judgment awarding our client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. That outcome reflects how we prepare: we build the case around the exact wording of the agreement and the history of the parties’ dealings. We are also experienced in mediation and arbitration, and we look for the resolution that fits your goals and budget rather than prolonging a case for its own sake. Many business owners come to us expecting to need the most aggressive lawyer available; in our experience, they are better served by a lawyer who acts as the situation requires and uses finesse when finesse will do.

Common Disputes That End in a Business Divorce

• Deadlocked Management: Two 50/50 owners, or an LLC with evenly split managers, cannot approve a budget, a lease, a hire, or a sale. Florida’s LLC statute treats an unbreakable deadlock that threatens or causes irreparable injury to the company as one ground for judicial dissolution, and some operating agreements contain their own deadlock sale mechanism that can take over before a court acts.
• Buyouts and Valuation Fights: One owner wants out, or the others want to remove a partner, and no one agrees on what the interest is worth. Valuation turns on the agreement’s formula (if any), the company’s financials, discounts, and goodwill, and these fights often decide the whole case.
• Breach of Operating or Shareholder Agreements: Missed capital calls, unauthorized transfers of ownership, ignored approval rights, and violations of non-compete or notice provisions all become breach claims. Many of these disputes turn on a single clause.
• Breach of Fiduciary Duty: Self-dealing, side businesses that divert customers, excessive compensation to insiders, and freezing out a minority owner can all support fiduciary claims against managers, majority members, or controlling shareholders.
• Missing Money and Diverted Funds: Unpaid distributions, commingled accounts, disputed capital contributions, and partners who cannot account for company cash support claims for an accounting and recovery of funds. Florida’s LLC statute lists misappropriated or wasted assets that injure the company as a ground for dissolution.
• Family Business Breakups: Siblings who inherited a company together, parents and children with different visions, and spouses or in-laws with shared ownership face control and compensation questions that are tangled up with family relationships. These cases call for discretion alongside firm protection of your financial interests.
• Judicial Dissolution: When no workable arrangement exists, a circuit court can dissolve an LLC or corporation, appoint a receiver or custodian, or order a purchase of the petitioning owner’s interest. For corporations, shareholders can also seek dissolution where the corporation has abandoned its business and failed to wind down within a reasonable time.
• Jointly Owned Real Estate: Companies and partners often hold property together. When the business ends but the co-ownership of the building or land does not, a partition action or quiet title case may be needed alongside the business claims.

What to Do Right Now if Your Partnership Is Breaking Down in Hollywood

The first decision is whether to preserve evidence and assets before the conversation turns adversarial. Gather the operating agreement or shareholder agreement and every amendment, the articles of organization or incorporation, tax returns, bank and credit card statements, capital contribution records, loan guarantees, leases, and the email or text threads where the disagreement developed. If you have access to company accounting systems, take copies of what you are entitled to see, but do not log into accounts or delete anything in a way that could later be portrayed as interference. Owners often make their situation worse in the first week by locking a partner out, rerouting customer payments, or firing staff on impulse, all of which can become exhibits against them.

Next, read the agreement for the exit mechanics before anyone files anything. Look for buyout formulas, a right of first refusal, shotgun or deadlock sale provisions, mandatory mediation or arbitration clauses, notice requirements, and attorney fee language. Under the corporate statute, a shareholder’s filing for judicial dissolution does not take away a deadlock sale right under a compliant shareholder agreement, and under the LLC statute a deadlock sale provision that is initiated before the court finds deadlock can displace a dissolution order. The sequence in which you act can therefore decide which remedy controls.

Pay attention to deadlines, because different claims run on different clocks. A claim on a written contract generally has a five-year limitations period, while an oral or implied contract claim has four years, a fraud claim has four years from discovery with an outer limit of twelve years, and an action for specific performance has a one-year period. Those periods vary by claim, and the facts of when a claim accrued are often disputed, so do not assume you have time to wait.

If you believe money or assets are being moved, tell your lawyer immediately. In a dissolution case, Florida courts can appoint a receiver or custodian for an LLC after notice and a hearing, and in corporate dissolution proceedings the court can issue injunctions, preserve assets, and keep the business operating until a full hearing. Our team regularly seeks temporary and permanent injunctions, including early and emergency relief, when waiting for final judgment would let the damage become permanent.

Where your case is filed depends on the entity, the parties, and the amount at stake. Business divorce and dissolution cases in Broward County go to the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, which has Complex Business and Tort Divisions that handle dissolution of certain business entities and large business litigation. A case can be filed directly into those divisions only under the court’s administrative order, with a designated form submitted at filing, and the Broward Clerk then assigns it randomly to a complex business or tort division. Hollywood is home to the South Regional Courthouse, though circuit-level business matters are typically handled through the Broward circuit court’s civil divisions. If the dispute involves partners or property in Palm Beach County, the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit is the venue, and federal claims can land in the Southern District of Florida, which sits in both Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.

Choosing Between a Negotiated Exit and a Court-Ordered One

Most business divorces are not won or lost at trial; they are decided by who understands the exit rules best and when they use them. A negotiated buyout can preserve the company’s value, customer relationships, and employees, but only if the price and payment terms are workable and the agreement protects you from being paid with a promise that will not hold. A structured wind-down can make sense when the business has run its course but the owners can still cooperate on collecting receivables, paying creditors, and selling assets in an orderly way.

When negotiation fails, the court process gives you leverage that depends on your role. A minority shareholder who petitions for dissolution can find that the corporation or other shareholders elect to buy the petitioner out at fair value. If the parties agree on fair value and purchase terms within 60 days after the first election is filed, the court enters an order on those terms, and an election to purchase is irrevocable unless the court decides it is equitable to set it aside or modify it. In an LLC dissolution case, the court can likewise order a purchase of the petitioning member’s interest. Filing for dissolution is therefore often a tool to force a valuation and buyout rather than an effort to destroy the company, and that shapes how you present your claim.

Mediation and arbitration deserve a serious look before litigation hardens positions. Many agreements require them, and even where they do not, a well-prepared mediation, with valuation figures and a clear picture of the legal exposure on each side, resolves more disputes than is commonly expected. Our attorneys have extensive experience in alternative dispute resolution, and we pursue the path most likely to meet your goals efficiently. We also advise clients when the better move is to stay in the company on corrected terms, tightening governance rather than exiting.

If the business owns real estate, or the partners hold property outside the company, the exit has a second layer. Co-owners who cannot agree can ask the court for partition, either dividing the property or ordering its sale with proceeds shared according to ownership interests. A party who holds a questionable claim to title can be removed by a quiet title action. Where the property was inherited by relatives, Florida’s heirs property rules may change how a partition case proceeds, and they add protections that can slow or reshape a forced sale. Because our practice covers both business and real estate litigation, we can coordinate these tracks instead of leaving you to manage separate lawyers.

Business Divorce Questions Hollywood Owners Ask

What is a business divorce?

It is the separation of co-owners of a company, whether they are partners, LLC members, or shareholders. It can be resolved through a negotiated buyout, a sale of the business, a structured wind-down, or a 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 gives remedies when a member’s conduct is serious enough or when the company can no longer function. We review your agreement first and explain which options are actually open to you.

What are the grounds for asking a court to dissolve an LLC?

A member or manager can seek dissolution where the company’s affairs are conducted unlawfully, where it is not reasonably practicable to carry on activities under the articles and operating agreement, where those in control have acted or are expected to act illegally or fraudulently, where assets are being misappropriated or wasted to the company’s injury, or where managers or members are deadlocked and irreparable injury to the company is threatened or occurring.

What can I do if my partner is taking money from the business?

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.

Do I have to go to court to end a business partnership?

No. Many disputes resolve through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, and your agreement may require one of those first. Court is the backstop when the other side refuses to cooperate or when emergency protection is needed.

How is a business valued in a buyout dispute?

The agreement controls if it sets a formula or appraisal process. If it does not, the parties or the court look to financial records, earnings, assets, and market evidence, and the disagreement often centers on discounts, goodwill, and what adjustments to make for owner compensation. Statutory buyouts use fair value, which is a separate concept from what a stranger might pay on the open market.

What happens if my partner and I are deadlocked 50/50?

First check whether your agreement has a deadlock mechanism such as a buy-sell or shotgun clause, because that may control. If it does not, a court can dissolve the entity on deadlock grounds when irreparable injury to the company is threatened or being suffered, and it can appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing to keep the business functioning.

Can a minority owner be frozen out without recourse?

Not necessarily. Controlling owners owe fiduciary duties, and shutting a minority owner out of information, distributions, or decision-making while paying themselves can support claims for breach of those duties, an accounting, and in some cases dissolution or a court-supervised buyout. The strength of the claim depends on the agreement and the proof of how decisions were made.

What if the company and the building it operates in are owned together?

Then you may have two disputes with different rules. The company’s governing documents control the business side, while co-ownership of the real property can be addressed through partition or title actions. A court can order property divided or sold and the proceeds distributed according to ownership interests, so it matters to coordinate both claims.

I live in New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut. Can you handle my Hollywood business dispute?

Yes. We regularly represent clients from the tri-state area who own businesses or real estate in South Florida, and we handle the court appearances locally so you do not have to travel for every hearing. We keep you informed at each stage.

Do you work with other attorneys on referred cases?

Yes. A significant part of our practice comes from other lawyers, including out of state attorneys whose clients have Florida disputes and Florida lawyers who do not handle business litigation. We keep referring counsel updated and respect their relationship with the client.

Serving Business Divorce Clients Throughout Hollywood and South Florida

Our team represents owners in Hollywood and neighboring Broward County communities including Hallandale Beach, Dania Beach, Pembroke Pines, Miramar, Davie, Fort Lauderdale, Plantation, Sunrise, Coral Springs, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Lauderhill, and Tamarac. Because many of the companies and properties in these disputes stretch north, we also serve clients across Palm Beach County, including Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, West Palm Beach, and surrounding communities.

Whether the dispute involves a restaurant partnership, a professional practice, a family company, or an LLC that holds investment property, we handle the full range of business divorce, partnership and member disputes, and related real estate litigation.

Talk With a Hollywood Business Divorce Lawyer Before the Dispute Sets

The right time to get advice is before a partner locks you out, drains an account, or files first. A Hollywood business divorce lawyer from the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can read your agreement, assess your leverage, and tell you plainly whether your best path is a buyout, a negotiated separation, or court action. We return calls within 24 hours, and our attorneys are ready to review your situation and the documents behind it.

Call the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team to schedule a consultation about your business, your partners, and what a fair separation should look like.