Hollywood Partnership Dispute Attorney

A partnership dispute is rarely about one disagreement. It is usually the end of a slow breakdown: a partner who stops disclosing the books, a co-owner who starts running the company for personal benefit, or two members who each hold half the votes and cannot agree on anything. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team handles these conflicts for business owners, investors, and families, and as a Hollywood partnership dispute attorney team we represent partners, LLC members, and shareholders in Hollywood, throughout Broward County, and across Palm Beach County and South Florida.

The legal path depends heavily on how the business is organized. A general partnership, an LLC, and a corporation each carry different rights, different exit routes, and different court remedies. Florida’s LLC statute lists specific grounds on which a member or manager can ask a circuit court to dissolve the company, while the corporate statute gives shareholders a separate set of remedies, including a built-in buyout mechanism. Knowing which framework governs your company, and what your operating or shareholder agreement says about deadlock and exit, shapes nearly every decision that follows.

Disputes in this area also move on two clocks at once. The business keeps operating, or stalls, while the legal claims age. Money can leave the company faster than a lawsuit can be filed, and contract claims carry deadlines that start running before most owners realize a dispute has become a case.

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

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

Andrew is joined by Senior Counsel Sundeep Nath, a Northwestern-trained litigator with years of experience in business and real estate cases in state and federal courts. That matters in partnership disputes, which sometimes move between state circuit court and federal court depending on the parties and claims. The firm works as a true legal team, so everyone handling your matter knows the file, and a strict 24 hour return call policy applies when an attorney is in court and cannot answer right away.

The firm’s results include a recent final judgment from a Broward County circuit court granting specific performance of a commercial real estate contract after a five-day bench trial, a 32-page ruling that turned on the exact wording of the agreement and the parties’ dealings. Our attorneys are also experienced in mediation and arbitration, and we look for the resolution that fits the client’s goals and budget rather than prolonging a case for its own sake. The firm also receives a significant share of its work through referrals from other attorneys, including out of state lawyers whose clients have disputes in Florida.

Types of Partnership and Co-Owner Disputes We Handle

• Deadlocked Management: Two equal owners, or a board split evenly, cannot approve budgets, hire, sign contracts, or decide whether to sell. Florida’s LLC statute treats an unbreakable deadlock that threatens irreparable injury as a ground for judicial dissolution, but an operating agreement with its own deadlock sale provision can take priority if it is properly triggered.
• Buyouts and Valuation Fights: Departing owners and remaining owners rarely agree on what a share is worth. Corporate law lets the company or other shareholders elect to buy a petitioning shareholder out at fair value, and the dispute often becomes a contest between competing appraisals.
• Breach of Operating, Partnership, or Shareholder Agreements: Disputes over capital calls, profit splits, transfer restrictions, non-competes, and consent rights usually turn on the precise language of the agreement and how the parties actually behaved.
• Breach of Fiduciary Duty: A managing partner who self-deals, usurps a business opportunity, or favors one owner over another may owe the company and the other owners damages, an accounting, or removal.
• Missing or Diverted Funds: Unpaid distributions, commingled accounts, undisclosed related-party payments, and partners who cannot account for company money support claims for an accounting and recovery, sometimes with emergency relief to freeze assets.
• Minority Owner Oppression: Minority members and shareholders who are shut out of information, cut off from distributions, or diluted can pursue statutory and equitable remedies, including dissolution where misconduct or waste is shown.
• Family and Friend-Run Businesses: Siblings who inherited a company, parents and children with different visions, and in-laws sharing ownership face control and compensation questions that carry personal weight alongside the financial stakes.
• Co-Owned Real Estate Held Through a Business: When partners also own property together, the dispute can extend to partition actions or title claims, which Florida handles in chancery under its own procedures.

What to Do Once a Partnership Dispute Becomes Real

Start by collecting the documents that define your rights: the partnership agreement, operating agreement, or shareholder agreement and every amendment, along with formation records, tax returns, bank statements, ledgers, loan guarantees, and any emails or texts in which the owners discussed money, authority, or an exit. These records decide most partnership cases. Make your own copies of what you are legitimately entitled to see as an owner, and do not take or alter anything you are not authorized to access, because a wrongful-access claim can undercut an otherwise strong case.

Next, read the agreement for dispute-resolution terms before anything else. Many operating agreements require mediation or arbitration first, set a buyout formula, or include a deadlock sale provision. Triggering or missing one of these mechanisms can change which remedy is available. A shareholder’s lawsuit for judicial dissolution, for example, does not cut off a deadlock sale right that exists under a compliant shareholder agreement.

Watch the filing deadlines. Florida gives five years to sue on a written contract and four years for oral or implied agreements, four years for rescission, and four years from discovery for fraud, capped at twelve years. Claims for specific performance have only one year. Professional malpractice claims, which can arise against an accountant or lawyer who advised the business, carry a two-year period from discovery. Because different claims in the same dispute run on different clocks, waiting to see whether things improve can quietly forfeit the strongest one.

If money is leaving the company, say so early. Courts can issue injunctions, appoint a receiver or custodian, and take steps to preserve assets while a dissolution case is pending, but a custodian or receiver appointment requires a hearing with notice to the parties. Evidence of ongoing waste or misappropriation is what supports that kind of urgent request.

On venue, a Hollywood business dispute that exceeds the county court limit is heard in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, which sits in and for Broward County. The circuit maintains complex business divisions for cases such as dissolution of certain business entities and large business litigation, and a qualifying case can be filed directly into one of those divisions. Disputes tied to Palm Beach County are heard in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit. Where parties are from different states and the amount at stake is sufficient, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, which sits in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach among other cities, may be available. Avoid the common mistakes of confronting a partner without a plan, firing the other owner without checking the agreement, transferring company funds to yourself as a protective measure, or signing a buyout term sheet before the company has been valued.

How Florida Courts Resolve Owner Conflicts: Dissolution, Buyouts, and Alternatives

Judicial dissolution is the remedy people mention first, but it is often a lever rather than the goal. Under Florida’s LLC statute, a member or manager can seek dissolution when the company’s affairs are conducted unlawfully, when it is not reasonably practicable to operate under the articles and operating agreement, when controlling members act or are expected to act illegally or fraudulently, when assets are being misappropriated or wasted to the company’s injury, or when owners are deadlocked and irreparable injury is threatened or occurring. In those proceedings the court can appoint a receiver or custodian or order that the petitioner’s interest be purchased instead of dissolving the company.

The corporate framework works differently. When a shareholder petitions on certain grounds, the corporation, or other shareholders if the corporation does not act, may elect to buy the petitioner’s shares at fair value. Within 30 days of the proceeding starting, the corporation must notify the other shareholders that they can avoid dissolution by electing to purchase. 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; otherwise the court determines fair value. An election to purchase is irrevocable unless the court finds it equitable to set it aside or modify it, so the decision to elect should be made with a valuation in hand.

Most disputes settle before trial, and the shape of the settlement usually reflects who holds leverage on these statutory options. A negotiated buyout, a sale of the whole business, a structured wind-down, or a restructured governance arrangement can all be reached through direct negotiation, mediation, or arbitration. Litigation remains the right tool when a partner is hiding assets, refuses to engage, or when evidence must be preserved and compelled.

Partnership Dispute Questions We Hear From Hollywood Owners

What counts as a partnership dispute in Florida?

It is any conflict between co-owners of a business over their rights and duties: management control, profit sharing, access to records, fiduciary breaches, contract violations, or how and whether one owner exits. The label covers general partnerships, LLCs, and closely held corporations alike, though the remedies differ.

Can I ask a court to dissolve my LLC?

Yes, if you are a member or manager and can show one of the statutory grounds, such as unlawful conduct, misappropriation or waste of assets, illegal or fraudulent conduct by those in control, impracticability of operating under the governing documents, or a deadlock that threatens irreparable injury. Courts have other options too, including ordering a buyout or appointing a custodian.

What if my operating agreement already has a deadlock or buyout provision?

That provision matters a great deal. A deadlock sale provision that is initiated before a court finds the deadlock ground proven can apply in place of a judicial dissolution order or a court-ordered purchase, so the sequence of what each side does can affect the outcome.

Can a partner be forced out?

It depends on the agreement and the conduct. Many agreements contain expulsion, dissociation, or call-right provisions, and the statutes provide remedies for serious misconduct. Without such a provision, forcing an owner out is harder and usually requires proving specific grounds in court.

My partner is taking company money. What can I do?

You may have claims for an accounting, breach of fiduciary duty, conversion, and recovery of the funds. When assets are at risk of being moved or spent, we can seek injunctive relief and, where the facts support it, a receiver or custodian.

How long do I have to sue?

Written contract claims carry a five-year period, oral or implied contract claims four years, fraud four years from discovery with a twelve-year cap, and specific performance only one year. A professional malpractice claim has two years from discovery. Different claims in one dispute can expire at different times.

Where would my case be filed if the business is in Hollywood?

Cases above the county court threshold go to the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit in and for Broward County, and some qualify for assignment to the circuit’s complex business divisions. County courts hear claims up to a periodically adjusted ceiling, and small claims sit below that. If the dispute meets federal jurisdiction requirements, the Southern District of Florida is another option.

Do I have to go to trial to resolve a partnership dispute?

No. Many disputes resolve through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, and an operating agreement may require one of those steps first. Preparing the case as though it will be tried tends to improve the terms of any settlement.

I live in New York or New Jersey but own part of a Broward business. Can you help?

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.

Is it worth hiring a lawyer before filing anything?

Often, yes. A review of the governing agreement can reveal a deadlock sale provision, a mandatory mediation step, a buyout formula, or a deadline that determines your strategy. Conversations or transactions made before that review sometimes limit later options.

Can a dispute with a family member who co-owns the business be handled quietly?

Often it can. Many family business disputes resolve through negotiated buyouts or mediation, which keep the matter out of a public trial. When a court filing is necessary, we handle it with discretion while still protecting your financial interests.

If my partnership also owns real estate, does that change anything?

It can. Florida partition actions proceed in chancery, and a court may divide property or order a sale at auction with proceeds shared according to ownership interests. Title disputes may be resolved through a quiet title action. We handle both alongside the business dispute.

Serving Hollywood Partnership Dispute Clients Across Broward and Palm Beach Counties

We represent business owners in Hollywood and the surrounding Broward County communities, including Hallandale Beach, Dania Beach, Pembroke Pines, Miramar, Davie, and Fort Lauderdale. Our reach extends north through Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Coral Springs, Plantation, and Sunrise, and into Palm Beach County, including Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, and West Palm Beach. We also serve clients throughout South Florida whose partners, co-owners, or properties are here, as well as clients in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with business or real estate interests in the region. Whether your company operates from a Hollywood storefront or an investment property is held through an LLC elsewhere, we handle the Florida proceedings.

Speak With a Hollywood Partnership Dispute Attorney

If your co-owner has stopped cooperating, funds are unaccounted for, or you need to separate from a business on fair terms, a conversation with a Hollywood partnership dispute attorney from the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can clarify which remedies your agreement and Florida law make available before deadlines pass and assets move. Call us to discuss your situation and schedule a consultation.