Lantana Breach of Fiduciary Duty Attorney

Lantana business owners, co-investors, and family partners who suspect that someone in a position of trust has been putting their own interests ahead of the company are usually weighing one hard decision: confront the person, quietly gather proof, or go straight to court. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team handles business and real estate litigation for clients in Lantana and throughout Palm Beach County and Broward County, and a Lantana breach of fiduciary duty attorney from our firm can help you decide which of those paths fits the facts.

A fiduciary is someone the law holds to a higher standard than an ordinary business counterpart. Managers of an LLC, officers and directors of a corporation, general partners, and majority owners who control the money and decisions of a minority owner’s investment can all owe duties of loyalty and care. When a fiduciary self-deals, diverts funds, hides financial records, freezes out a minority member, or usurps an opportunity that belonged to the company, the injured owner may have a claim for damages, an accounting, and in urgent cases an injunction.

The question most owners ask first is simple: is what happened to me actually a breach, or just a bad business decision? The answer depends on the role the person held, what the operating agreement or shareholder agreement says, and what the records show. Courts do not second-guess honest mistakes, but they do act when a fiduciary profits at the company’s expense.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for Fiduciary Duty Disputes

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents business owners, investors, and families in South Florida’s most difficult business and real estate disputes, serving Lantana, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and communities across Palm Beach County and Broward County. 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 earned his undergraduate degree from Emory University in 1986 and his law degree from 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 state and federal courts. The firm works as a true legal team, so everyone handling your matter knows the file and can answer when you call, and a strict 24 hour return call policy applies when we are in court. Fiduciary cases often turn on the wording of the governing agreement and the history of the parties’ dealings, which is the kind of detailed preparation the firm brings to every contract and ownership dispute.

Results matter more than adjectives. After a 5-day bench trial in Broward County Circuit Court, the firm obtained a 32-page final judgment awarding its client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. Our attorneys are also experienced in mediation and arbitration, and we look for the resolution that serves your goals and budget rather than prolonging a case for its own sake. Many cases come to us through referrals from other attorneys, including out of state counsel whose clients have Florida disputes.

Common Fiduciary Breaches in Closely Held Businesses and Co-Owned Property

• Diverted Company Funds: A manager or partner moves money to a personal account, pays personal expenses through the company, or routes revenue to a side entity. These claims often pair a fiduciary count with an accounting and a request for emergency relief to stop assets from being moved.
• Self-Dealing Transactions: The company buys from, sells to, or leases from an entity the controlling owner secretly holds an interest in, often at terms the company would never accept from a stranger.
• Freeze-Outs of Minority Owners: A majority holder cuts a minority member out of distributions, meetings, or information, or pays themselves compensation that swallows all profit while the minority owner receives nothing.
• Usurped Business Opportunities: A partner takes a deal, client, or property that belonged to the company and keeps it personally, or launches a competing venture using the company’s relationships and information.
• Refusal to Provide Records: Owners who cannot get books, bank statements, or tax filings are often looking at the first sign of a larger problem. Access to records is frequently the first battleground.
• Misuse of Co-Owned Real Estate: One partner collects rent on a jointly held property, refuses to share it, or encumbers the property without the other owner’s knowledge. These disputes can lead to partition or title claims alongside the fiduciary count.
• Mismanagement and Waste: Assets are neglected, spent recklessly, or allowed to decline in a way that harms the company. Florida’s LLC statute treats misappropriation or waste of assets that causes injury as a ground for judicial dissolution.
• Family Business Betrayals: A sibling, parent, or in-law running the company treats the family relationship as a reason not to explain the numbers. These cases need discretion, but the financial claims are the same.

What to Do When You Suspect a Partner or Manager Is Breaching Their Duty

Start by preserving what you can legitimately reach. Gather the operating agreement or shareholder agreement, the articles of organization or incorporation, tax returns, bank and credit card statements, loan documents, and any emails or texts that discuss money, distributions, or major decisions. Make copies before you raise any concerns. Do not log into accounts you are not authorized to use or take records you have no right to see; that can hand the other side a counterclaim and undercut your credibility.

Next, read the governing agreement closely. Some agreements require notice, mediation, or arbitration before a lawsuit, and some contain buyout or deadlock-sale provisions that change your options. A lawyer who has handled many of these disputes will look at those clauses before anything is filed. If the agreement is silent, Florida’s statutes on limited liability companies and corporations supply default remedies, including the court’s power to order an accounting, appoint a receiver or custodian, order a buyout, or dissolve the company in appropriate cases.

Deadlines deserve attention early. Florida’s limitations periods vary by the theory of the claim: five years for an action founded on a written instrument, four years for oral or implied contract claims, and four years from discovery for fraud, with an outer limit of 12 years. A claim for specific performance has only one year. How a fiduciary claim is characterized can affect which period applies, so do not assume you have time. Delay can also hurt practically, because funds get spent and records disappear.

Where money is actively leaving the company, speed matters more than anything else. A court can issue temporary relief to freeze assets or preserve records while the case is pending. Business disputes of this size are generally filed in the circuit court, which hears claims above the county court’s limit; for Palm Beach County that is the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, with the main courthouse in West Palm Beach. Federal court in West Palm Beach or Fort Lauderdale may come into play when the parties are from different states and the amount in controversy qualifies.

Finally, avoid common mistakes: confronting the fiduciary before you understand the numbers, signing a settlement or amendment you have not had reviewed, continuing to fund the company while the problem grows, and posting accusations online. Talk with a Lantana business litigation attorney before any of those steps.

Remedies, Accountings, and Ending the Business Relationship

A fiduciary claim is rarely just about money damages. Many clients want to know what actually happened to company funds, and an accounting forces the fiduciary to document where money went. If the court finds a breach, available relief can include compensation for losses, disgorgement of profits the fiduciary made through the breach, and orders requiring the return of misappropriated property. In urgent situations, injunctions can restrain the transfer or spending of assets while the case proceeds.

Sometimes the relationship cannot be repaired. Florida’s LLC statute allows a member to seek judicial dissolution where assets are being misappropriated or wasted, where controlling members are acting illegally or fraudulently, where deadlock threatens irreparable injury, or where it is no longer reasonably practicable to carry on the business under the operating agreement. Before dissolving, a court can appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing, or order a purchase of the petitioning member’s interest. For corporations, shareholders have a parallel path, and the corporation or other shareholders may elect to buy out a petitioner at fair value; if the parties agree on value and terms within 60 days after the first election is filed, the court enters an order on those terms.

Not every case ends in a courtroom. Many are resolved through negotiated buyouts, structured wind-downs, mediation, or arbitration, and the strength of your documented claim often drives the terms. A clear paper trail and a credible willingness to litigate are what bring a defendant to the table.

Questions Lantana Owners Ask About Fiduciary Duty Claims

What exactly is a breach of fiduciary duty?

It is a violation of the duty of loyalty or care owed by someone who holds a position of trust over another person’s financial interests. In business, that typically means a manager, officer, director, or controlling owner who puts personal gain ahead of the company or the other owners.

Does a business partner always owe me a fiduciary duty?

Not automatically in every structure. General partners, LLC managers, and corporate officers and directors commonly owe duties, and controlling owners can owe duties to minority holders in certain circumstances. The governing agreement and the person’s role in running the business are central to the analysis.

What is the difference between breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract?

A contract claim rests on a promise in an agreement. A fiduciary claim rests on a duty imposed by the relationship itself. Many disputes include both, such as a partner who violates the operating agreement and also self-deals. Pleading both can matter for deadlines and remedies.

How long do I have to file?

It depends on how the claim is framed. Written-instrument claims run five years, oral or implied contract claims four years, and fraud four years from discovery with a 12-year cap. Because different theories carry different clocks, talk with an attorney promptly instead of guessing.

Can I get a court to stop my partner from spending company money?

In urgent cases, yes. A court can issue temporary and, later, permanent injunctions and can take steps to preserve assets while the case is pending. You must show the court a real need for emergency relief, so documentation matters.

Can I look at the company’s books if my partner refuses?

Members and shareholders generally have rights to inspect certain company records, though the details depend on the entity type and the agreement. Refusal to produce records is often itself evidence of a larger problem and can become part of the case.

Is it worth suing if I only own a minority share?

Often it is, because minority owners are the ones most exposed to freeze-outs and self-dealing. Remedies can include a court-ordered buyout of your interest. A candid review of the documents will tell you whether the cost of litigation makes sense compared to the value at stake.

What if my partner and I are family?

Family ties do not erase fiduciary duties. They do change how cases are handled. We approach family business disputes with discretion and often explore mediation first, while still protecting your financial position at every step.

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

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

Will my case have to go to trial?

Most disputes are resolved before trial, through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration. Some agreements require arbitration. We prepare each case as if it may be tried, because that preparation is what produces better settlement terms.

Can a fiduciary duty claim lead to dissolving the company?

It can. Where assets are being misappropriated or wasted, or where management is acting illegally or fraudulently, Florida law allows a member of an LLC to ask a court for dissolution. Courts may also consider alternatives such as a receiver, custodian, or a buyout of the petitioner’s interest.

What if the disputed asset is real estate we own together?

Co-owned property disputes can involve fiduciary claims, accountings of rent and expenses, partition actions, or title claims. Which route fits depends on how title is held and what the co-owners agreed to.

Serving Fiduciary Duty Clients From Lantana Across Palm Beach and Broward Counties

We represent Lantana owners and investors in disputes arising in town and in neighboring Lake Worth Beach, Hypoluxo, Manalapan, Boynton Beach, Greenacres, and Atlantis. Our work extends north through Palm Springs, West Palm Beach, Riviera Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, and Wellington, and south through Delray Beach, Boca Raton, Highland Beach, and Deerfield Beach into Broward County. In Broward we serve clients in Pompano Beach, Coral Springs, Parkland, Fort Lauderdale, Plantation, Hollywood, and surrounding communities.

Whether the dispute involves a local restaurant, a medical or professional practice, a family-held property business, or an investment shared with out of state partners, the same questions drive the case: what duty was owed, what was breached, and what the records prove. We also work with clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut whose business partners or co-owners are here in South Florida.

Speak With a Lantana Breach of Fiduciary Duty Lawyer

If you believe a partner, manager, or co-owner has betrayed your trust and put your investment at risk, a conversation with a Lantana breach of fiduciary duty lawyer at the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can clarify where you stand. We will review your agreements and records, explain which claims and remedies fit, and give you a realistic view of cost and timing. Call our team today to schedule a consultation.