Jupiter Family Business Dispute Attorney

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents family business owners, heirs, siblings, spouses, and in-laws in Jupiter and across Palm Beach County and Broward County when a company or property that the family built together becomes a source of conflict. A Jupiter family business dispute attorney is usually called in at the point where dinner-table disagreements have turned into locked bank accounts, unanswered questions about money, or one relative acting as though the company belongs to him or her alone.

Family disputes are rarely just about money. A child who worked in the business for twenty years may hold a minority stake that the parent never formalized. Siblings who inherited an ownership interest may disagree about whether to sell. A spouse may be named as an officer on paper but shut out of every decision. The legal questions are concrete: what the operating agreement or shareholder agreement actually says, who owes fiduciary duties to whom, where the money went, and what remedy a Florida court can order.

Waterfront real estate, marine businesses, professional practices, and closely held investment entities are common in the Jupiter area, and many of them are held by relatives with no written exit plan. That is when a dispute escalates quickly, and when the early choices, such as what to document, what to demand, and what to file, shape everything that follows.

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

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team is a business and real estate litigation firm serving business owners, investors, and families in Palm Beach County, Broward County, and throughout South Florida, including clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who hold business or property interests here. The firm’s work centers on business divorce, partner and member disputes, complex contract litigation, partition actions, and disputes over missing company funds. Family business cases tend to combine all of these at once.

Andrew M. Schwartz, the firm’s founder, has spent 37 years in litigation and has practiced in Florida since being admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989. He earned his undergraduate degree from Emory University in 1986 and his law degree from the University of Miami in 1989. His career has been built around contract disputes, business divorces, and conflicts among partners, LLC members, and shareholders. Senior Counsel Sundeep Nath, a Northwestern-trained litigator, brings 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 a matter knows the file and can answer when a client calls. There is a strict 24 hour return call policy when the attorneys are in court. That matters in family disputes, where the other side may move assets or change access to records with little warning. The firm is also experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as courtroom litigation, and it looks for the resolution that fits the client’s goals and budget rather than prolonging a case for its own sake. Many family clients are relieved to hear that, because they want the business and the family to survive the outcome if that is realistic.

The firm’s recent trial work includes a five-day bench trial in Broward County Circuit Court that ended in a 32-page final judgment awarding the firm’s client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. That experience in the courtroom, on a record built from contract language and the parties’ history, carries directly into disputes where family arrangements were never written down carefully.

Types of Family Business Disputes We Handle in Jupiter

• Sibling Disputes After an Inheritance: Brothers and sisters who inherit shares or membership interests often disagree about management, compensation for the sibling who runs daily operations, and whether to sell. Claims can include breach of fiduciary duty, an accounting, and judicial dissolution or a court-ordered buyout.
• Parent and Child Control Conflicts: A founder who will not step back, or a child who has taken effective control without a formal transfer, creates disputes over authority, salary, and who is entitled to the company’s future value.
• Spousal and In-Law Ownership Disputes: Ownership shared by spouses, former spouses, or in-laws raises questions about management rights and buyout terms, especially when the family relationship has ended but the company has not.
• Diverted Funds and Missing Distributions: Relatives who control the books may pay personal expenses from company accounts, commingle funds, or withhold distributions. Remedies can include an accounting, recovery of funds, and emergency relief to freeze movement of assets.
• Deadlock Between Equal Owners: When two family branches each hold half and cannot agree, the company can stall. Florida’s LLC statute lists deadlock with threatened irreparable injury as one ground for judicial dissolution.
• Shareholder and Member Oppression: Minority family owners who are cut out of meetings, denied information, or frozen out of compensation may have claims under the governing agreement and Florida’s business entity statutes.
• Shared Real Estate Held by Relatives: Family-owned commercial buildings, rental properties, and vacation homes often lead to partition actions, quiet title claims, or landlord and tenant disputes between co-owners.
• Breach of Family Operating or Shareholder Agreements: Informal buy-sell terms, handshake deals, and poorly drafted agreements generate contract claims that turn on exact wording and the course of dealing between relatives.

What to Do and Where to Go When a Family Business Dispute Is Underway

Start by securing information, not by confronting relatives. Gather the entity’s formation documents, any operating agreement, shareholder agreement, or buy-sell agreement, tax returns, bank and credit card statements, loan documents, and any emails or texts about money, ownership, or authority. Members and shareholders generally have inspection rights, but access can be cut off quickly, so copies of what you already lawfully hold are valuable. Do not take records you are not entitled to access, and do not delete anything; both can damage your position.

Next, identify what kind of claim you actually have, because deadlines differ. A claim founded on a written agreement generally must be brought within five years, while an oral or implied contract claim has four years. A fraud claim runs four years from discovery, subject to a 12 year outer limit. A claim to rescind a contract carries four years, and an action for specific performance carries only one year. Breach of fiduciary duty and accounting claims have their own timing questions, so the safest course is to have the facts reviewed early rather than assuming you have years.

If money is actively disappearing, say so to your attorney immediately. Florida courts can issue temporary injunctions to stop assets from being moved or spent while a case is pending, and in an LLC dissolution proceeding the court can appoint a receiver or custodian after notice and a hearing. Those remedies work best when requested early and supported by documents.

Cases above the county court limit are heard in circuit court. In Palm Beach County that is the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, which sits in West Palm Beach and has branch courthouses elsewhere in the county, and in Broward County it is the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit in Fort Lauderdale. Broward also has a complex business division that handles large business litigation and certain entity dissolutions, which can matter if the company operates there. Disputes with federal jurisdiction, such as certain diversity cases between out of state relatives, can be heard by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, which sits in West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale.

Finally, think about what you want. Some clients want out at a fair price, some want the business preserved, and some need a court to unwind a relationship that no longer works. An early demand letter, a mediation, or a negotiated buyout can resolve a case far faster than trial, but only if your attorney understands your leverage and your tolerance for a long fight.

How Florida Law Separates Family Owners

When relatives cannot resolve ownership through agreement, Florida’s statutes provide structured exits. For limited liability companies, a manager or member can ask a circuit court to dissolve the company on specific grounds: activities are being conducted unlawfully, it is not reasonably practicable to operate under the articles and operating agreement, controlling members are acting or expected to act illegally or fraudulently, assets are being misappropriated or wasted, or managers or members are deadlocked and irreparable injury is threatened or occurring. In those proceedings the court can, on a showing of sufficient merit, appoint a receiver or custodian or order a buyout of the petitioning member’s interest.

If the operating agreement already contains a deadlock sale mechanism, such as a shotgun clause, and one owner starts it before the court finds that deadlock grounds exist, the agreement’s mechanism can displace judicial dissolution or a court-ordered purchase. This is one reason the written agreement matters so much, and why a careful read of it comes first.

Corporations follow a parallel track. A shareholder can petition for judicial dissolution on statutory grounds, and the corporation, or other shareholders if it does not act, can elect to purchase the petitioner’s shares at fair value, which often avoids dissolution. 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. The election is irrevocable unless the court finds it equitable to modify it. The corporation must also notify the other shareholders within 30 days of the filing that they may avoid dissolution by buying out the petitioner. During the proceeding a court can issue injunctions, appoint a receiver or custodian, and take steps to preserve corporate assets.

Where family members also co-own real estate, partition is governed by Chapter 64. The court can divide the property in kind or, when division would prejudice the owners, order a sale at public auction with proceeds divided according to ownership interests. Property inherited by relatives as tenants in common may qualify as heirs property under the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act, which applies to partition actions filed on or after July 1, 2020 and adds protections, including a requirement that commissioners consider specific factors before partition in kind is ordered. Title clouds between relatives can be addressed through a quiet title action, which must trace title for at least seven years unless the court orders otherwise.

Common Questions About Family Business Disputes in Jupiter

What counts as a family business dispute?

It is any ownership, management, money, or property conflict among relatives who share a company or real estate. It can involve siblings, parents and children, spouses, former spouses, or in-laws, and it may include claims over contracts, fiduciary duties, missing funds, dissolution, or partition.

Can I force a relative out of the company?

It depends on your operating or shareholder agreement and the conduct involved. Many agreements contain buyout, expulsion, or dissociation provisions, and Florida law provides remedies for serious misconduct or when a company cannot function. An attorney needs to review the documents before you act.

What if there is no written agreement among the family owners?

Florida’s default statutes then fill in the gaps, and the case may turn on the parties’ history, emails, tax filings, and how they actually behaved. Oral and implied agreements can be enforced, though they carry a shorter four-year limitations period than written ones.

What can I do if a relative is taking money from the business?

You may have claims for breach of fiduciary duty, an accounting, conversion, and recovery of the funds. If assets are at risk, a court can issue injunctive relief to stop them from being moved or spent during the case.

How long do I have to file a lawsuit?

Written contract claims have a five-year period, oral or implied contract claims four years, fraud four years from discovery with a 12 year cap, and specific performance only one year. Which period applies depends on the claim, so the facts should be reviewed promptly.

Will a family business dispute always end up in court?

No. Many are resolved by negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, and often through a buyout. The firm is experienced in alternative dispute resolution and pursues the route most likely to meet the client’s goals efficiently, while preparing for litigation when it is needed.

My siblings and I co-own a building we inherited. Can one of us force a sale?

A co-owner can ask a court for partition. The court may divide the property if that is practical, or order a sale and divide the proceeds. If the property qualifies as heirs property, additional statutory protections apply before a forced sale.

Can a spouse or in-law with a small ownership share still sue?

Yes. Minority owners have rights to information, fair treatment, and protection from misappropriation, regardless of the family relationship. The size of the interest affects remedies and leverage but does not eliminate the claim.

I live in New York or New Jersey but the business is in South Florida. Can you still handle my case?

Yes. The firm regularly represents clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with interests in South Florida, handles the local court appearances, and keeps clients informed so they do not have to travel for every hearing.

What does a court-ordered buyout look like, and who sets the price?

Fair value is usually negotiated first, and for corporations the parties have 60 days after the first election to reach agreement. If they cannot, the court decides, typically with valuation evidence from financial experts.

Can I keep the dispute private?

Court filings are generally public, but many cases settle through mediation or arbitration, which offer more confidentiality. The firm handles these matters with discretion and weighs privacy concerns when recommending a path.

Serving Family Business Clients Across Jupiter, Palm Beach County, and Broward County

The firm represents family business owners in Jupiter and throughout Palm Beach County, including Tequesta, Jupiter Inlet Colony, Juno Beach, North Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Riviera Beach, West Palm Beach, Lake Worth Beach, Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, and Boca Raton. Clients in these communities often own marine businesses, restaurants, medical and professional practices, construction companies, and investment real estate held among relatives.

The firm also serves Broward County, including Deerfield Beach, Pompano Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Plantation, and neighboring cities, as well as clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who have business or real estate interests in South Florida. Whether a dispute is filed in Palm Beach County or Broward County, the same team handles the case from first demand through trial or settlement.

Speak With a Jupiter Family Business Dispute Lawyer

If a relative is blocking your access to records, taking company money, refusing to buy or sell, or controlling a business that you partly own, a conversation with a Jupiter family business dispute lawyer at the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can clarify your options before positions harden. Call to schedule a consultation, and bring the agreements and financial records you have so the team can tell you what your claims are, how long you have to bring them, and what outcome is realistic.