Hollywood LLC Member Dispute Attorney

An LLC dispute is rarely about one bad email or one missed meeting. It is usually the end of a long stretch in which the operating agreement stopped matching how the owners actually behave. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team handles Hollywood LLC member dispute attorney matters for business owners, investors, and families with companies in Broward County and across South Florida, including deadlocked management, buyouts, diverted funds, and judicial dissolution.

In Hollywood, these disputes tend to involve operating businesses and real property held together: restaurants and service companies along the commercial corridors, rental buildings and condominium investments held in an LLC, and family-run companies where ownership passed to siblings or in-laws. Disputes in this market are heard in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, which sits in and for Broward County, and the South Regional Courthouse is located in Hollywood itself.

What separates a workable LLC dispute from a ruinous one is usually timing and document discipline. The operating agreement controls much of what happens, Florida’s LLC statute fills the gaps, and the facts you preserve in the first weeks often decide which remedies are realistic.

What Florida Law Allows When LLC Members Cannot Continue Together

Florida’s Revised LLC Act gives a manager or member the right to ask a circuit court to dissolve the company on specific grounds. These are not vague complaints about a difficult partner. The statute lists defined circumstances, and a petition has to fit one of them.

The grounds include: the company’s activities are being conducted unlawfully; it is no longer reasonably practicable to carry on the business consistent with the articles and operating agreement; those in control have acted, are acting, or are reasonably expected to act illegally or fraudulently; company assets are being misappropriated or wasted to the company’s injury; or the managers or members are deadlocked, cannot break the deadlock, and the company is suffering or threatened with irreparable injury.

Dissolution is not the only outcome the court can order. Upon a showing of sufficient merit, a court can appoint a receiver or custodian, or order a purchase of the petitioning member’s interest. Before a receiver or custodian is appointed, the court must hold a hearing after notice to the parties and any interested person the court designates. Those tools matter because they can preserve a business that would be destroyed by a forced liquidation.

Deadlock clauses add another wrinkle. If your operating agreement contains a deadlock sale provision and someone initiates it before the court finds that deadlock grounds exist, that contractual mechanism can take the place of a dissolution order or a court-ordered buyout, as long as it is then carried through. Whoever moves first, and under which document, can reshape the whole case. For corporations and shareholders, Florida has a parallel framework, including a fair-value buyout election that can let the remaining owners avoid dissolution.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for an LLC Member Dispute

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents business owners, investors, and families in the most difficult business and real estate disputes in South Florida, serving Broward County, Palm Beach County, and clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who hold interests here.

Andrew M. Schwartz, the firm’s founder, has spent 37 years in litigation. He was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989, earned his undergraduate degree from Emory University in 1986 and his law degree from the University of Miami in 1989, and built his career around complex contract disputes and conflicts among partners, LLC members, and shareholders. Sundeep Nath, Senior Counsel, is 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: everyone working on a matter knows the file, calls are answered, and a strict 24 hour return call policy applies when an attorney is in court. Our attorneys are experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as courtroom litigation, and the goal is the resolution that fits your objectives and budget rather than a prolonged fight for its own sake.

Recent results show the kind of work involved. After a 5-day bench trial, a Broward County Circuit Court judge issued a 32-page final judgment awarding our client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. Cases like that turn on contract language and the history between the parties, which is exactly how LLC member disputes are won or lost. A significant part of the firm’s work also comes from referrals by other attorneys, including out of state counsel whose clients have disputes in Florida.

Common LLC Member Conflicts We Handle in Hollywood

• Deadlocked Management: Two equal members cannot agree on a lease, a sale, a hire, or a distribution, and the company stalls. The remedy depends on whether the operating agreement has a deadlock mechanism and whether the statutory deadlock ground, with its irreparable-injury requirement, is met.
• Minority Member Squeeze-Outs: A controlling member cuts a minority owner out of decisions, information, or distributions. Claims often include breach of the operating agreement and breach of fiduciary duty.
• Missing or Diverted Company Funds: Unexplained withdrawals, commingled accounts, and managers who cannot account for money. We pursue an accounting, recovery of funds, and emergency relief to stop assets from moving.
• Disputed Capital Contributions: Members disagree about who put in what, whether a loan was really a contribution, and how ownership percentages should reflect it.
• Buyouts and Valuation Fights: One member wants out, or wants the other out, and the price is the problem. Valuation methods, discounts, and the agreement’s formula often drive the outcome.
• Family and Friend-Owned LLCs: Siblings who inherited a company, parents and children with different plans, or spouses and in-laws who share ownership. These cases require discretion alongside firm protection of your financial position.
• LLCs Holding Real Estate: When the company’s main asset is a building or parcel, disputes can overlap with partition, title, and landlord-tenant issues.
• Breach of Operating Agreement: Violations of consent requirements, transfer restrictions, non-compete terms, or distribution rules.

What to Do Right Now If Your Co-Member Relationship Has Broken Down

Start by getting your hands on the documents: the articles of organization, the operating agreement and every amendment, capital contribution records, tax returns, bank statements, and any written communications about money or control. If you are a member, you may have information rights under the agreement and Florida law, and requesting records in writing creates a useful paper trail. Do not delete anything, and do not take company property or log into accounts you are not authorized to use. Self-help mistakes hand the other side a counterclaim.

Next, check the deadlines. A claim founded on a written instrument, such as an operating agreement, generally must be filed within five years. A claim on an oral or implied agreement has four years. Fraud claims run four years from discovery, with an outer limit of twelve years. A suit seeking specific performance has just one year, which surprises people who assume contract remedies all share one clock. Waiting to see if things cool down can quietly cost you a claim.

If money or assets are moving, speed matters more than anything else. Florida courts can issue temporary and permanent injunctions, and in a dissolution proceeding can appoint a custodian or receiver, but those remedies require prompt action and solid evidence. Disputes in Broward County go to the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, and large business disputes, including certain entity dissolutions, may be eligible for the circuit’s complex business division. Federal court in Fort Lauderdale or West Palm Beach is possible only where federal jurisdiction exists. A county court generally handles only smaller claims, so a serious member dispute belongs in circuit court.

Finally, avoid the usual mistakes: signing a buyout term sheet without reviewing the valuation method, firing off angry messages that become exhibits, or running the company in a way that violates the agreement while you argue the other side did the same. Get the agreement reviewed before you act, because one clause can change your whole strategy.

How These Disputes Actually Resolve

Most do not end with a dramatic dissolution trial. The realistic outcomes are a negotiated buyout, a sale of the business, a structured wind-down, or a court-ordered remedy when talks fail. Mediation and arbitration are often built into the operating agreement, and our attorneys are comfortable in those settings as well as in front of a judge.

Leverage drives settlement. A member who can show documented diversion of funds, a clear breach of the agreement, or a credible path to a custodian or dissolution is in a very different negotiating position than one relying on a general sense of unfairness. We build the record early so that the negotiation, and the litigation if it comes to that, rests on evidence.

Questions About LLC Member Disputes in Hollywood

What is an LLC member dispute?

It is a conflict among the owners of a limited liability company over control, money, contributions, the operating agreement, or the company’s future. Disputes range from disagreements over distributions to claims of fraud or misappropriation.

Can I force a member out of my Florida LLC?

It depends on your operating agreement and the conduct involved. Many agreements include buyout, expulsion, or dissociation provisions, and Florida law provides remedies in cases of serious misconduct or when the company cannot function. An attorney should review the agreement first.

When can a court dissolve an LLC in Florida?

On the grounds listed in the statute, including unlawful conduct of the company’s affairs, impracticability of carrying on the business under the operating agreement, illegal or fraudulent conduct by those in control, misappropriation or waste of assets, or a deadlock that threatens irreparable injury to the company.

What happens if my operating agreement has a deadlock sale clause?

If that provision is initiated before the court finds deadlock grounds exist, and then carried through, it can apply in place of judicial dissolution or a court-ordered buyout. Who triggers the clause, and when, can matter a great deal.

What if my partner is taking money from the company?

You may have claims for an accounting, breach of fiduciary duty, conversion, and recovery of the funds. In urgent situations, a court can issue injunctive relief to stop assets from being moved or spent while the case is pending.

How long do I have to sue over a breach of the operating agreement?

Generally five years for a claim founded on a written instrument and four years for oral or implied agreements. Specific performance claims have a one-year period, and fraud claims run four years from discovery, subject to a twelve-year cap.

Can a court appoint someone to run the LLC during the dispute?

Yes, in a dissolution proceeding the court can appoint a receiver or custodian once a sufficient showing is made, after holding a hearing with notice to the parties and any interested person the court designates.

Do I have to go to court to resolve an LLC dispute?

No. Many are resolved through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, especially when the operating agreement requires it. Litigation is the fallback when talks fail or when emergency relief is needed.

My LLC owns real estate and my co-member and I cannot agree on selling it. Is partition an option?

Partition applies to co-owners of real property, and it may be available when property is held directly rather than through an entity. When an LLC owns the property, the dispute usually runs through the LLC’s governing documents and the dissolution remedies. A review of how title is actually held is the first step.

I live in New York or New Jersey. Can you handle my Hollywood LLC dispute?

Yes. We regularly represent out of state clients with South Florida business interests, handle the local court appearances, and keep you informed so you do not need to travel for every hearing.

Can a member dispute turn into a federal case?

Only if federal jurisdiction exists. Most LLC member disputes are heard in state circuit court. The Southern District of Florida, which covers Broward and Palm Beach Counties, becomes relevant only when the case meets federal requirements.

Is it worth hiring an attorney for a smaller LLC dispute?

Often, yes, because a short consultation to review the operating agreement can reveal whether a buyout, negotiation, or a quick injunction is the best route. Early advice frequently prevents a manageable disagreement from becoming a lawsuit.

Serving LLC Members Across Hollywood and South Florida

We represent LLC members and business owners in Hollywood and throughout Broward County, from Hallandale Beach and Dania Beach through Pembroke Pines, Miramar, Davie, and Cooper City. Our reach extends to Fort Lauderdale, Plantation, Sunrise, Weston, Coral Springs, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Oakland Park, Lauderhill, and Tamarac.

We also serve clients across Palm Beach County, including Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, West Palm Beach, and Wellington, and clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut whose co-owners or properties are in South Florida.

Talk With a Hollywood LLC Member Dispute Lawyer

If you are in a standoff with a co-member over money, control, or the future of the company, the sooner the agreement and the facts are reviewed, the more options you keep. Call the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team to discuss your situation with a Hollywood LLC member dispute lawyer who will give you a straight read on your remedies and your costs.