Lake Worth Beach Business Litigation Attorney

The hardest business disputes in Lake Worth Beach rarely start with a courtroom. They start with a bank statement that does not add up, a partner who stops returning calls, or a property co-owner who lists a building without asking. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team is a South Florida firm that handles business and real estate litigation for owners, investors, and families, and a Lake Worth Beach business litigation attorney from our team can step in at the point where a disagreement becomes a legal problem. We serve Lake Worth Beach and Palm Beach County, along with Broward County and the rest of South Florida.

Lake Worth Beach is a city of small operating companies, family-held properties, mixed-use buildings, and investor-owned rentals. That profile produces a particular set of disputes: LLC members who disagree about money, siblings who inherited a building, former partners who both want a property but not each other, and landlords and tenants who read a lease differently. These cases tend to turn on documents, bank records, and timing, and the first decisions made often shape everything after.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for Lake Worth Beach Business Disputes

The Andrew M. Andrew M. Schwartz, the firm’s founder, was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989, has practiced litigation in Florida since then, and has spent 37 years in litigation. His career is built around complex contract disputes, business divorces, and conflicts among 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. The firm serves clients in Lake Worth Beach, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, and throughout Palm Beach County and Broward County, and it also represents clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who hold business or real estate interests in South Florida.

Sundeep Nath, Senior Counsel, is a Northwestern-trained litigator with years of experience in business and real estate cases in both state and federal courts. That matters when a dispute may land in circuit court or in the federal courthouse in West Palm Beach. The firm practices as a true legal team, so everyone working on a matter knows the file and can answer when you call, and it keeps a strict 24 hour return call policy when attorneys are in court. The attorneys are experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as trial, and the firm looks for the resolution that fits the client’s goals and budget rather than stretching a case out.

Trial experience is not abstract here. After a 5-day bench trial, a Broward County circuit judge issued a 32-page final judgment awarding the firm’s client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. Outcomes depend on the facts of each case, but that result reflects the level of preparation the firm brings to contract and real estate disputes.

Disputes We Handle for Lake Worth Beach Owners, Investors, and Families

• Business Divorce: Deadlocked management, buyouts, valuation fights, and breaches of operating or shareholder agreements among partners, LLC members, and shareholders. Minority owners who are frozen out of decisions or information are a frequent starting point.
• Judicial Dissolution of LLCs and Corporations: Florida’s LLC statute lets a member or manager seek dissolution on grounds such as deadlock with irreparable injury, misappropriated or wasted assets, or illegal conduct by those in control. Corporate shareholders have their own dissolution grounds, and the other side can often avoid dissolution by buying out the petitioner at fair value.
• Missing Funds and Unpaid Distributions: Diverted company money, commingled accounts, disputed capital contributions, and managers who cannot account for cash. Claims include an accounting, breach of fiduciary duty, and recovery of funds.
• Complex Contract Litigation: Purchase agreements, operating agreements, commercial leases, loan documents, and construction contracts, where the exact wording and the parties’ course of dealing decide the case.
• Partition Actions: Former business partners, siblings who inherited property, unmarried couples, and investors who want out of a shared property. Heirs property has its own statutory rules that can limit a forced sale.
• Quiet Title and Title Disputes: Competing ownership claims, clouds on title, and clients who need to separate themselves from title to a property.
• Family Business Conflicts: Siblings, parents and children, spouses, and in-laws who share ownership and disagree about control, compensation, and succession.
• Injunctions and Emergency Relief: Temporary and permanent injunctions to stop assets from being moved or spent and to protect company property while the case proceeds.

Deadlines and First Moves When a Business Relationship Breaks Down

The calendar controls more of these cases than clients expect. A claim on a written contract has a five-year limitations period in Florida, while a claim on an oral or implied contract has four years. Fraud claims run four years from discovery, with an outside limit of 12 years. An action for specific performance carries a one-year period, which is short enough that waiting to see whether a deal will close on its own can forfeit the remedy. A negligence-based claim, including many professional malpractice theories, is now limited to two years. Which period applies depends on how the claim is framed, so a lawyer should read the documents before you assume you have time.

The practical first step is to preserve evidence before anyone has a reason to alter it. Gather the operating or shareholder agreement and every amendment, tax returns, bank and credit card statements, general ledgers, loan documents, leases, and the email and text history with the other owner. Stop sharing strategy by text or email with anyone who may be adverse. Do not move money or take unilateral control of accounts in response to what you suspect, because a court will look at who acted first and why. If funds are leaving the company now, tell your attorney immediately, since a request for emergency injunctive relief only works if assets can still be reached.

On the procedural side, suits in Lake Worth Beach’s county are filed in the circuit court for Palm Beach County, which sits in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, with the main civil courthouse in West Palm Beach. County court handles smaller civil claims, and circuit court handles disputes above the county court ceiling as well as equity matters such as partition, quiet title, injunctions, and dissolution. If the other owner or the property is in Broward County, the case belongs in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, which has a complex business division for matters such as large business litigation and certain entity dissolutions. Cases with diversity or federal questions can be heard in the Southern District of Florida, which holds court in West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale. Part of an early strategy conversation is choosing, or responding to, the right forum.

How Florida Law Frames Dissolution, Buyouts, and Court-Appointed Help

Clients often assume the choice is between staying in a broken company and watching it be shut down. Florida law offers more options than that. In an LLC dissolution case, a court that finds sufficient merit can appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing with notice to the parties, or it can order the company or other members to buy out the petitioning member’s interest. If the operating agreement contains a deadlock sale mechanism that is started before the court decides the deadlock ground exists, that contractual process takes priority over a judicial dissolution order, so the drafting of the agreement can decide who controls the outcome.

For corporations, a shareholder petition for dissolution triggers a notice requirement: within 30 days of the filing, the corporation must tell the other shareholders they can avoid dissolution by electing to buy the petitioner’s shares at fair value. If the parties agree on value and terms within 60 days of the first election, the court enters an order on those terms, and an election to purchase is generally irrevocable unless the court finds it equitable to modify it. While the case is pending, a court can issue injunctions, appoint a receiver or custodian, and take steps to preserve assets. These tools are why dissolution cases are often really valuation cases, and why financial records matter so much from the first day.

Partition and Title Disputes Over Lake Worth Beach Real Property

When co-owners cannot agree on a property, partition is a creature of equity in Florida. The complaint must describe the land, identify the owners and where they live, and state each owner’s share. After a judgment of partition, the court appoints three commissioners, chosen by agreement of the parties or by the court. If the commissioners report that dividing the property would prejudice the owners, the court may order a sale at public auction and divide the proceeds by ownership share. A court can allow a sale on credit for good cause, though at least one-third of the price must be paid down unless everyone consents otherwise.

Inherited property changes the analysis. Florida’s Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act applies to partition actions filed on or after July 1, 2020, and covers tenancy-in-common property with no binding partition agreement where a cotenant acquired title from a relative and further conditions are met, such as relatives holding twenty percent or more of the interests. If property qualifies, the statutory process governs unless all cotenants agree otherwise, and a partition in kind cannot be entered unless the court is satisfied the required factors were considered and found that division would prejudice the cotenants as a group. For families in older Lake Worth Beach neighborhoods who inherited a house together, that framework can decide whether a sale is forced or avoided.

Quiet title actions work differently. A plaintiff who claims legal or equitable title can ask the court to cancel a conveyance or evidence of title held by someone who is not the rightful owner, and the plaintiff generally must trace title back at least seven years before filing. The action may be filed in any county where part of the land lies. Related questions, such as whether someone who has occupied a parcel for seven years can claim it by adverse possession, depend on strict statutory requirements, including a written description of the claimed property, and we evaluate those claims from both sides.

Common Questions About Business Litigation in Lake Worth Beach

What is a business divorce?

It is the separation of co-owners of a company, whether partners, LLC members, or shareholders. It can end in a negotiated buyout, a sale of the business, a structured wind-down, or court-ordered dissolution when the owners cannot agree.

Can I force a business partner out of an LLC in Florida?

That depends on your operating agreement and the partner’s conduct. Many agreements contain buyout, expulsion, or dissociation provisions, and Florida’s LLC statute gives remedies for serious misconduct or when the company cannot function. An attorney needs to read your agreement before advising on the available routes.

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

You may have claims for breach of fiduciary duty, an accounting, conversion, and recovery of the funds. When assets are at risk of being moved or spent, a court can issue emergency injunctive relief while the case is pending.

How long do I have to sue for breach of a written contract?

Five years under Florida law for a claim founded on a written instrument. Oral or implied contract claims get four years, and a specific performance action must be brought within one year.

How does a partition action work?

The owner files a complaint in circuit court asking to divide the property or, if division is impractical, to sell it and split the proceeds. The court appoints commissioners to evaluate whether the land can be divided fairly, and a public sale follows if it cannot.

Does every business dispute have to go to court?

No. Many are resolved through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, and our attorneys have extensive experience in each. We pursue the path most likely to reach your goals efficiently, and we prepare for trial in case it is needed.

Can a minority owner force the company to buy their shares?

Not automatically. In corporate dissolution proceedings, the buyout runs the other direction: the corporation or other shareholders may elect to purchase the petitioner’s shares at fair value to avoid dissolution. In an LLC, a court may order a purchase of the petitioning member’s interest in a dissolution case. Your agreement may also contain its own buyout or deadlock sale terms, which can take precedence.

What happens to the business while the lawsuit is pending?

Usually it keeps operating, but the court can step in. In dissolution proceedings a judge can appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing, issue injunctions, and preserve assets. That is why early evidence and a clear request for interim relief matter.

I inherited a building with my siblings and one wants to sell. Can that sibling force a sale?

Any co-owner can ask the court for partition, but inherited property may qualify as heirs property under Florida’s special statute, which adds protections and a more structured process before a court can order a sale. Whether your property qualifies depends on how title is held and who owns the interests.

I live in New York or New Jersey. Can you handle a Lake Worth Beach dispute for me?

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

Do you work with other attorneys on referred cases?

Yes. A significant part of our practice comes from other lawyers, including out of state counsel whose clients have Florida disputes, and we keep referring counsel informed throughout the matter.

Serving Business Litigation Clients Across Lake Worth Beach and Palm Beach County

We represent clients in Lake Worth Beach and throughout the surrounding Palm Beach County communities, including Lantana, Palm Springs, Greenacres, Atlantis, Haverhill, Cloud Lake, Glen Ridge, Palm Beach Shores, and unincorporated areas around the city. Our work reaches north through West Palm Beach, Riviera Beach, Royal Palm Beach, Wellington, Palm Beach Gardens, and Jupiter, and south through Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, Boca Raton, and Highland Beach. We also serve owners and investors in Broward County, including Fort Lauderdale, Deerfield Beach, Pompano Beach, Coral Springs, and Hollywood, as well as clients elsewhere in South Florida and clients in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut whose partners or properties are here.

Talk With a Lake Worth Beach Business Litigation Lawyer

If a partner, co-owner, or counterparty has put your company, your investment, or your property at risk, the sooner a lawyer reviews the documents, the more options you will have. A Lake Worth Beach business litigation lawyer at the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can assess your agreements, explain the deadlines that apply, and recommend whether negotiation, mediation, or court is the better path. Call us to discuss your situation.