Lighthouse Point Partnership Dispute Attorney

When the co-owner you once trusted with your company stops answering questions about the books, or the two of you cannot agree on whether to sell, buy out, or shut down, the problem rarely stays inside the business. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents partners, LLC members, shareholders, and minority owners in business divorces and ownership conflicts for clients in Lighthouse Point, throughout Broward County, and across Palm Beach County and the rest of South Florida. If you need a Lighthouse Point partnership dispute attorney, the first job is figuring out what kind of entity you actually have and what your governing documents say, because that determines nearly everything that follows.

A “partnership dispute” is a loose label. Legally, you may be a member of a Florida LLC, a shareholder in a corporation, or a partner in a general or limited partnership, and each of those carries different rights, exit routes, and court remedies. Lighthouse Point is a small, close-knit community with a working marine and boating economy, professional offices, and a lot of privately held family businesses and investment properties. Disputes here often involve two or three owners who have known each other for decades, which makes the breakdown more personal and the paper trail thinner than it should be.

Why Clients Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for Partnership and Owner Disputes

The Andrew M. 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. His career has centered on complex contract disputes, business divorces, and conflicts among 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.

Sundeep Nath, Senior Counsel, is a Northwestern-trained litigator with years of experience handling business and real estate cases in both state and federal courts. That matters in ownership disputes, which sometimes move between forums depending on the parties and the claims.

The firm practices as a true legal team, meaning everyone working on your matter knows the file and can respond when you call. There is a strict 24 hour return call policy when the attorneys are in court or otherwise unavailable. The attorneys are experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as courtroom litigation, and they look for the resolution that fits a client’s goals and budget rather than stretching a case out for its own sake. Andrew Schwartz’s own view is that clients often arrive wanting the most aggressive lawyer available, when what they really need is a lawyer who acts as the situation requires and uses finesse when finesse will do.

On the results side, the firm recently won a final judgment after a five-day bench trial in Broward County Circuit Court, a 32-page ruling awarding the client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. Enforcing a deal exactly as written is often what a co-owner dispute comes down to, and that trial experience carries over to ownership conflicts.

Ownership Conflicts We Handle for Lighthouse Point Business Owners

• Deadlocked Management: Two equal owners who cannot agree on a major decision can freeze payroll, vendor payments, and sales. Florida’s LLC statute treats an unbreakable deadlock that threatens irreparable injury to the company as a ground for judicial dissolution.
• Buyouts and Valuation Fights: One owner wants out, or wants the other out, and the two sides are far apart on what the business is worth. Valuation disputes turn on the agreement’s formula, if any, and on competing financial analyses.
• Breach of Operating, Shareholder, or Partnership Agreements: Missed capital contributions, unauthorized side businesses, ignored voting requirements, and violated transfer restrictions all come back to what the written agreement actually says.
• Breach of Fiduciary Duty: A partner or manager who steers opportunities to a competing company, pays themselves above what was agreed, or self-deals at the company’s expense may owe the business and the other owners damages.
• Missing Funds and Unpaid Distributions: Diverted company money, commingled accounts, disputed capital contributions, and managers who cannot account for cash can support claims for an accounting and recovery of funds.
• Minority Owner Oppression: Minority members and shareholders who are frozen out of information, decisions, or distributions have remedies that include court-supervised dissolution and, in corporations, a forced purchase of their shares at fair value.
• Family Business Splits: Siblings who inherited a company together, parents and children with different visions, and in-laws who share ownership face control and compensation questions where family history sits on top of the legal issues.
• Co-Owned Real Estate: Many Lighthouse Point partnerships hold a building, a dock-side property, or an investment parcel, and a falling-out over the company often becomes a falling-out over the real estate, which can lead to partition or title claims.

What to Do in the First Weeks of a Partner Dispute

Start by collecting the documents that define your rights: the operating agreement, shareholder agreement, or partnership agreement; articles of organization or incorporation; any amendments; buy-sell provisions; and the company’s tax returns, bank statements, and financial statements. Look specifically for a deadlock sale provision, a buyout formula, an arbitration or mediation clause, and any notice requirements. Under Florida’s LLC statute, if an operating agreement contains a deadlock sale mechanism and it is initiated before a court finds that deadlock grounds exist, that mechanism generally controls instead of a judicial dissolution order. Whether you invoke that clause, and when, can change your entire strategy.

Limit what you do on your own. Do not move company money, change locks, cut off the other owner’s access to accounts, or delete anything. Self-help of that kind routinely turns a manageable dispute into a counterclaim. If you suspect funds are being diverted, preserve your own access to records and tell your attorney quickly, because courts can issue injunctions and other emergency orders to stop assets from being moved or spent while a case is pending.

Deadlines depend on the claim. A claim founded on a written agreement generally carries a five-year limitations period in Florida, while a contract claim not founded on a written instrument carries four years. A fraud claim runs four years from discovery, subject to an outer cap of twelve years, and an action seeking specific performance carries a one-year period. Because several of these can apply to the same dispute, waiting to see if things cool down can quietly cost you a claim.

Lighthouse Point sits in Broward County, so many cases are filed in the Circuit Court of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, which sits in and for Broward County. That circuit has a complex business division that handles, among other matters, dissolution of certain business entities and large business litigation, and a case can be filed directly into it under the circuit’s administrative procedures. Where the company or property is in Palm Beach County, the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit would be the venue instead. Cases with a federal basis go to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, which covers both counties. Because the dollar threshold separating county court from circuit court is adjusted periodically, larger ownership disputes are typically circuit court matters. Whichever court applies, expect an early period of pleadings, document exchange, and often mediation before any trial is set.

Dissolution, Buyouts, and Court-Ordered Remedies

Many owners assume the only way out of a failed partnership is to sue and tear the company down. The law gives courts more tools than that, and which one applies depends on the entity type.

For an LLC, a member or manager can ask a circuit court to dissolve the company on several grounds: activities being conducted unlawfully; it no longer being reasonably practicable to operate under the articles and operating agreement; controlling members or managers acting, or being reasonably expected to act, illegally or fraudulently; assets being misappropriated or wasted to the company’s injury; or a deadlock among managers or members that cannot be broken while irreparable injury is threatened or occurring. In those proceedings, the court may appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing with notice to the parties, or order a purchase of the petitioning member’s interest instead of dissolving.

Corporations work differently. A shareholder can seek judicial dissolution on statutory grounds, including where the corporation has abandoned its business and failed to wind up within a reasonable time. In a shareholder-initiated dissolution case of the kind that turns on oppression or deadlock, the corporation, or if it does not act, the other shareholders, may elect to purchase the petitioner’s shares at fair value. The statute gives the parties 60 days after the first election to agree on fair value and terms, and an election to purchase generally cannot be withdrawn unless the court finds it equitable to set it aside. The corporation must also notify the other shareholders within 30 days of the filing that they can avoid dissolution by electing to buy. During these proceedings the court can issue injunctions, appoint a receiver or custodian, and take steps to preserve corporate assets.

Real property held by the partners adds another layer. Co-owners who cannot agree can seek partition in the circuit court, which can divide the land or, where division would prejudice the owners, order a sale at public auction with proceeds split according to ownership interests. Where title itself is contested, a quiet title action asks the court to settle competing claims and remove clouds on title. The firm handles both alongside the entity-level dispute so the two tracks do not undercut each other.

Questions Lighthouse Point Owners Ask About Partnership Disputes

What is the difference between a partnership dispute and a business divorce?

The terms overlap. “Business divorce” usually describes the full separation of co-owners through a buyout, sale, wind-down, or court-ordered dissolution. A partnership dispute can be narrower, such as a disagreement over money or authority, that may or may not end in separation.

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

It depends on your operating agreement and the partner’s conduct. Many agreements include buyout, expulsion, or dissociation provisions, and Florida law provides court remedies for serious misconduct or when the company can no longer function. An attorney should read your agreement before you act.

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

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

How long do I have to sue my partner?

For claims founded on a written agreement, Florida generally allows five years. Oral or implied contract claims have four years, fraud claims four years from discovery up to a twelve-year cap, and specific performance actions one year. Because different claims in one dispute can carry different clocks, get a deadline review early.

What if our operating agreement has a deadlock or buy-sell clause?

Those clauses can control how the dispute is resolved. For LLCs, a deadlock sale provision that is initiated before a court finds deadlock grounds generally applies in place of judicial dissolution. How and when you trigger it matters, so it is worth analyzing before filing anything.

Can a court appoint someone to run the company while we fight?

Yes, in appropriate cases. In LLC and corporate dissolution proceedings, a court can appoint a receiver or custodian after notice and a hearing, and can issue injunctions to preserve assets and keep the business operating until the case is resolved.

I am a minority shareholder and have been shut out of decisions. Do I have options?

Yes. Depending on the facts, you may pursue judicial dissolution, breach of fiduciary duty claims, and an accounting. In a corporate dissolution case, the company or the other shareholders can elect to buy you out at fair value, which is often the practical outcome minority owners want.

Does every partnership dispute end up in court?

No. Many are resolved through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, especially when the agreement requires it. The firm’s attorneys are experienced in each, and the goal is the route most likely to achieve your objectives efficiently.

My partner and I also own real estate together. Does that change anything?

It can. Co-owned property may be subject to partition, in which a court divides the land or orders it sold and the proceeds divided, and to title claims. Handling the property issues alongside the entity dispute avoids inconsistent positions.

I live in New York or New Jersey but own a share of a South Florida business. Can you still represent me?

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

How long does a partnership dispute take in Broward County courts?

It varies widely with the claims, the number of parties, and whether emergency relief is needed. Cases that settle at mediation can resolve in months, while those that go to a bench or jury trial take considerably longer. An early assessment of your agreement and the facts gives a more realistic picture.

Serving Partnership Dispute Clients From Lighthouse Point Across South Florida

For owners in Lighthouse Point, the firm’s work extends along the Broward coast through Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, and Hillsboro Beach, and inland to Coral Springs, Parkland, Coconut Creek, and Margate. It also reaches south through Oakland Park, Fort Lauderdale, Plantation, Sunrise, and Davie, and north into Palm Beach County, including Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Lake Worth, West Palm Beach, and Palm Beach Gardens. The firm also represents clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut whose partners, companies, or real estate are here in South Florida. Whether the dispute involves a marine business, a professional practice, a family company, or a jointly held property, the team handles the matter wherever it lands in Broward or Palm Beach County.

Talk With a Lighthouse Point Partnership Dispute Lawyer

If your co-owner relationship has broken down and you need to know your options for a buyout, a dissolution, or recovery of money, a conversation with a Lighthouse Point partnership dispute lawyer at the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team is a practical place to start. The attorneys will review your agreement, explain the remedies available for your type of entity, and recommend a path that fits your goals and budget. Call today to schedule a consultation.