Lighthouse Point Business Litigation Attorney

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents business owners, investors, and families in Lighthouse Point who find themselves in a dispute with a partner, a co-owner, a tenant, or a counterparty, and the firm handles those cases throughout Broward County and neighboring Palm Beach County. A Lighthouse Point business litigation attorney is most often called when a small, closely held company stops functioning as a team: two members cannot agree on who controls the bank account, a minority shareholder suspects distributions are being diverted, or co-owners of a waterfront property cannot agree on whether to keep it or sell it.

Lighthouse Point is a small, largely residential city, and the disputes that come out of it tend to reflect that. Many of the companies involved are family-run or owned by a handful of people who started out as friends, and a good number of the real estate disputes involve properties held jointly by siblings, former business partners, or investors. These cases are decided on the language of an operating agreement, the paper trail of who paid what, and whether the court can be persuaded to act quickly enough to keep assets from disappearing while the lawsuit moves forward.

Where Business Disputes in Lighthouse Point Actually Come From

Because Lighthouse Point sits in Broward County, civil cases above the county court ceiling are filed in the Circuit Court of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, which sits in and for Broward County. That matters for strategy. The Seventeenth Circuit operates a complex business division that handles, among other things, the dissolution of certain business entities and large business and construction litigation, and a case can be filed directly into that division using the form and procedure set by the circuit’s administrative order. Whether a dispute belongs there, or in a general civil division, is a decision worth making deliberately at the outset, because it affects the judge, the pace, and how the case is managed.

Federal court is occasionally part of the picture as well. The Southern District of Florida covers Broward and Palm Beach Counties and holds court in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, among other places. Disputes between parties from different states, which is common when a New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut owner has a partner in South Florida, can sometimes be heard there, and our attorneys have handled business and real estate matters in both state and federal court.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for Business Litigation Near Lighthouse Point

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team is a business and real estate litigation firm that serves clients in Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and throughout Palm Beach County and Broward County, including Lighthouse Point. The firm represents business owners, investors, and families in the disputes that are hardest to resolve: business divorces, partnership and member disputes, complex contract litigation, missing company funds, partition actions, and real estate title and transaction disputes. Clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with business or real estate interests in South Florida are also a regular part of the firm’s work.

Andrew M. Schwartz, the firm’s founder, was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989 and has spent 37 years in litigation. He earned his undergraduate degree from Emory University in 1986 and his law degree from the University of Miami in 1989, and his career has been built around contract disputes, business divorces, and conflicts among partners, LLC members, and shareholders. 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.

The firm practices as a true legal team, meaning everyone working on a matter knows the file and can speak to it when a client calls. A strict 24 hour return call policy applies when the attorneys are in court or otherwise tied up, and conference calls can be scheduled at times that work for everyone involved. The attorneys are experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as courtroom litigation, and they look for the resolution that fits the client’s goals and budget rather than stretching a case out for its own sake.

The firm’s trial work speaks to what it can do when a case has to be decided by a judge. After a 5-day bench trial in Broward County, the Circuit Court issued a 32-page final judgment in May 2024 awarding the firm’s client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. For a Lighthouse Point owner whose deal collapsed at closing, that result illustrates the kind of preparation these contract cases require. A significant part of the firm’s practice also comes from referrals by other attorneys, including out of state lawyers whose clients have disputes in Florida.

Business and Real Estate Disputes We Handle for Lighthouse Point Clients

• Business Divorce: Co-owners who can no longer work together may resolve the split through a negotiated buyout, a sale, a structured wind-down, or court-ordered dissolution. For an LLC, Florida’s statute allows a member to seek dissolution when the owners are deadlocked and the company faces irreparable injury, when assets are being misappropriated or wasted, or when it is not reasonably practicable to operate under the operating agreement.
• Partnership and Member Disputes: Disagreements over contributions, profit splits, management authority, and self-dealing by one owner. These cases frequently turn on whether the operating or shareholder agreement already contains a buyout, expulsion, or deadlock sale mechanism.
• Family Business Disputes: Siblings who inherited a company together, parents and children with different visions, and spouses or in-laws sharing ownership. These matters require discretion alongside firm protection of the client’s financial interests.
• Complex Contract Litigation: Purchase agreements, operating and shareholder agreements, commercial leases, loan documents, and construction contracts. Outcomes depend on the exact wording and the parties’ history of dealing with one another.
• Missing Funds and Accounting Claims: Unpaid distributions, diverted company money, commingled accounts, and managers who cannot account for funds. Remedies include an accounting, breach of fiduciary duty claims, and recovery of the money.
• Partition Actions and Title Disputes: Co-owners of real estate who cannot agree can ask the court to divide the property or order it sold. Quiet title actions clear up competing claims of ownership.
• Injunctions and Emergency Relief: Temporary and permanent injunctions to freeze assets, stop a transfer, or preserve property while the case is pending.
• Real Estate Transactions and Landlord-Tenant Disputes: Failed closings, purchase and sale contract disputes, and commercial or residential landlord and tenant conflicts.

What to Do in the First Days of a Business Dispute

The first priority is to stop the situation from getting worse in ways that cannot be undone. If you suspect money is leaving the company, gather what you can lawfully access: bank statements, accounting records, tax returns, capital contribution records, and any written communications about distributions or compensation. Do not delete anything, and do not take records you are not entitled to see. Preserving your own copies and keeping your tone measured in emails and texts will matter later, because those messages tend to become exhibits.

Then read your governing documents before anyone else does. The operating agreement, shareholder agreement, or partnership agreement usually dictates what happens next, including whether there is a buyout formula, a notice requirement, a mandatory mediation or arbitration clause, or a deadlock sale procedure. Florida law gives the agreement real weight. For example, when an LLC agreement contains a deadlock sale provision that is started before a court finds the statutory deadlock ground, that provision generally governs in place of a judicial dissolution order. Missing that detail can mean filing the wrong kind of case.

Deadlines matter, and they differ by claim. A claim founded on a written contract generally must be brought within five years, while an oral or implied contract claim has four years. A fraud claim has four years from discovery, subject to an outer limit of 12 years, and an action for specific performance has only one year. That one-year window is short enough that a buyer or seller whose real estate deal has fallen apart should speak with a lawyer quickly. Claims against professionals such as an accountant or lawyer, whether framed in contract or tort, carry a two-year period measured from when the claim was or should have been discovered.

If you need emergency relief, the court will want to see specific evidence of what is at risk, not general suspicion. Cases in Broward County are filed with the Clerk of the Circuit Court for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, and a dispute that qualifies may be directed into the complex business division. A circuit court also holds a hearing, with notice to the parties, before appointing a receiver or custodian over an LLC, so it pays to build the record carefully.

The most common mistakes we see are waiting too long, acting unilaterally by locking a partner out or moving funds, and treating a text message as a casual exchange. Early conversations with a Lighthouse Point business litigation lawyer often keep a disagreement from becoming a lawsuit, or at least make sure the lawsuit is filed on your terms.

How Judicial Dissolution, Buyouts, and Partition Work in Florida

Florida’s statutes give courts a defined toolkit when co-owners cannot resolve a dispute themselves. For a corporation, a shareholder may petition for dissolution on specific grounds, and once such a proceeding begins, the corporation must notify the other shareholders within 30 days that they may avoid dissolution by electing to purchase the petitioner’s shares 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 directing the purchase on those terms, and the election is generally irrevocable unless the court finds it equitable to modify it. During the case, the court can issue injunctions, appoint a receiver or custodian, and take other steps to preserve company assets.

For LLCs, the court can, on a showing of sufficient merit, appoint a receiver or custodian or order the purchase of a petitioning member’s interest instead of dissolving the company outright. Valuation then becomes the central fight, which is why accounting claims and dissolution claims are so often pleaded together.

Real estate partition follows its own path under Chapter 64. The complaint must describe the land, identify the owners and the share each holds, and the case proceeds in the court’s equity jurisdiction. After a judgment of partition, the court appoints three commissioners to determine whether the land can be divided fairly. If they report that division would prejudice the owners, the court may order a sale at public auction and divide the proceeds in proportion to each owner’s interest. Where the property qualifies as heirs property, meaning it is held as tenants in common, was acquired from a relative, and meets one of the statute’s further conditions, such as relatives holding 20 percent or more of the interests, a separate set of protections under the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act applies, and the court must follow it unless all cotenants agree otherwise. Quiet title actions, by contrast, ask the court to determine ownership and remove a cloud on title, and the plaintiff must generally trace title back at least seven years unless the court orders otherwise.

Questions Lighthouse Point Business Owners Ask

Do I need to sue my business partner, or can this be settled?

Many business disputes settle through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, particularly when the owners still have a reason to preserve the company’s value. Litigation is sometimes necessary, especially when assets are at risk, but our attorneys pursue the path most likely to meet your goals efficiently.

What is a business divorce?

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

Can I force a partner out of my LLC?

It depends on your operating agreement and the conduct involved. Many agreements include buyout, expulsion, or dissociation provisions, and Florida law provides remedies when a member’s misconduct is serious or the company can no longer function. An attorney needs to read the agreement first.

What can I do if a partner is taking company money?

Depending on the facts, you may have claims for breach of fiduciary duty, an accounting, 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 file a breach of contract lawsuit in Florida?

A claim based on a written contract generally has a five-year limitations period, and one based on an oral or implied contract has four years. Some related claims, such as specific performance, carry much shorter periods, so the right deadline depends on the remedy you are seeking.

How does a partition action work if I co-own property with a former partner or relative?

A court can divide the property or, when division is impractical, order it sold and distribute the proceeds according to each owner’s share. Commissioners appointed by the court evaluate whether division is workable, and special rules apply when the property is heirs property.

What if our operating agreement already has a deadlock provision?

That can change everything. In an LLC, a deadlock sale provision that is initiated before the court finds the statutory deadlock ground generally applies in place of a judicial dissolution order, so the timing of who acts first can matter. For corporations, filing for judicial dissolution on certain grounds does not take away a shareholder’s right to start an available deadlock sale under a compliant shareholder agreement.

Which Florida court would hear my case?

Disputes above the county court dollar limit are filed in circuit court, which for Lighthouse Point is the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit in and for Broward County. Smaller claims may belong in county court, and some matters involving parties from different states may be heard in federal court.

I live in New York or New Jersey. Do I have to travel to Florida for hearings?

Generally not for every hearing. We regularly represent out of state clients with South Florida interests, handle the local court appearances, and keep you informed at each stage so you can protect your interests without constant travel.

Can you work with my existing lawyer?

Yes. Much of our work comes from referrals by other attorneys, including out of state lawyers whose clients have Florida disputes and Florida lawyers who do not handle business litigation. We communicate with referring counsel throughout and respect their relationship with the client.

Is it worth hiring a litigator before a dispute turns into a lawsuit?

Often it is. Having a litigator review an agreement, a buyout proposal, or a contract before a fight begins can prevent a disagreement from turning into a lawsuit. Our general counsel program, in which the firm also serves as the company’s registered agent, is built around that idea.

Does an agreement to buy or sell a business or property always have to be in writing to be enforced?

Not necessarily for every claim, but written agreements are far easier to enforce and carry a longer limitations period. When a deal rests on emails, texts, and course of dealing, the history between the parties becomes the evidence, and it should be preserved from the start.

Serving Business Litigation Clients Across Lighthouse Point and South Florida

Our work for Lighthouse Point clients begins in Broward County and extends well beyond it. From Lighthouse Point itself, we represent owners and investors in neighboring Pompano Beach and Deerfield Beach, and in Hillsboro Beach, Oakland Park, and Wilton Manors. Further into the county we serve clients in Fort Lauderdale, Coral Springs, Parkland, Coconut Creek, Margate, Tamarac, Plantation, Sunrise, Davie, Weston, and Hollywood. Across the county line in Palm Beach County, we handle matters for clients in Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Lake Worth, West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, and Wellington.

We also act for clients who live in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut but have a business partner, an investment property, or a share of real estate here in South Florida.

Speak With a Lighthouse Point Business Litigation Lawyer

When a partnership is breaking down, money has gone missing, or co-owners cannot agree on a property, the early decisions often shape the outcome. If you need a Lighthouse Point business litigation lawyer who knows the Broward and Palm Beach courts and will keep you informed at every stage, call the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team to discuss your situation. We will review the facts, explain your options, and recommend the most practical path forward, whether that means negotiation, mediation, arbitration, or a courtroom.