Lighthouse Point Real Estate Attorney

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents property owners, investors, landlords, and families in Lighthouse Point and across Broward County and Palm Beach County, handling real estate transactions and the disputes that grow out of them. For a Lighthouse Point real estate attorney, the work tends to fall into two very different categories: the deal that needs to be structured and closed correctly, and the property problem that has already gone wrong, whether that is a failed closing, co-owners who cannot agree, a cloud on title, or a tenant who has stopped paying.

Lighthouse Point is a small, largely residential waterfront community in northern Broward County, and its property issues reflect that. Homes passed down between siblings, houses bought jointly by unmarried partners, and investment properties held with a business partner are all common sources of trouble. When owners fall out, Florida law gives them specific tools, and the deadlines and procedures attached to those tools are strict. The sooner someone understands which tool fits their situation, the more control they keep over the outcome.

Real estate disputes are also different from most civil cases because the property itself is the prize, and it can be sold, encumbered, or occupied while the argument continues. That is why this firm treats the transactional side and the litigation side of real estate as one subject rather than two, and why emergency relief to freeze a situation is sometimes the first step rather than the last.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for Real Estate Matters in Lighthouse Point

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team is a South Florida business and real estate litigation firm serving Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and all of Palm Beach County and Broward County, including Lighthouse Point. Founder Andrew M. Schwartz has spent 37 years in litigation, was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989, and holds degrees from Emory University (1986) and the University of Miami School of Law (1989). His career has centered on complex contract disputes, business divorces, and conflicts among partners, LLC members, and shareholders, which is the same ground where many real estate disputes begin.

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 works as a true legal team, so everyone assigned to a matter knows the file, and a strict 24 hour return call policy applies when the attorneys are in court. Many clients come from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with property or business interests in South Florida, and the firm handles the local court appearances so those clients do not have to travel for every hearing. A significant part of the practice also comes from referrals by other attorneys, including out of state lawyers whose clients have Florida property disputes.

On the results side, a 5-day bench trial in Broward County Circuit Court ended with a 32-page final judgment, issued on May 15, 2024, awarding the firm’s client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. That outcome reflects the kind of detailed, document-driven preparation these cases demand. The firm is also experienced in mediation and arbitration, and looks for the resolution that fits a client’s goals and budget rather than prolonging a case for its own sake.

Real Estate Problems the Firm Handles for Lighthouse Point Owners

• Partition of Jointly Owned Property: When co-owners cannot agree to keep, sell, or divide a property, a Florida court can divide it physically or order it sold at public auction and split the proceeds in proportion to each owner’s share. Typical Lighthouse Point scenarios include siblings who inherited a house, former business partners, and unmarried couples who bought together.
• Heirs Property Cases: Florida applies a separate set of partition rules to property held by relatives as tenants in common without a binding agreement. These rules give family cotenants added protections, including a preference for a fair buyout over a forced sale.
• Quiet Title and Title Disputes: A quiet title action asks the court to cancel a competing deed or claim and settle who owns the land. It is the remedy for clouded title, disputed boundaries of ownership, and conveyances that should never have been recorded.
• Failed Closings and Contract Disputes: Buyers and sellers litigate over deposits, financing contingencies, delayed closings, and refusals to close. The wording of the purchase and sale contract usually decides the case.
• Specific Performance: Because every parcel is unique, a buyer can ask a court to order the seller to actually complete the sale rather than merely pay damages. The firm has won this remedy after a full trial.
• Landlord and Tenant Disputes: Nonpayment, lease violations, and terminating month-to-month tenancies all follow specific notice rules under Florida’s residential landlord-tenant statute, and mistakes in the notice can derail an eviction.
• Injunctions Protecting Property: When someone threatens to sell, encumber, strip, or occupy property while a dispute is pending, temporary and permanent injunctions, including emergency relief, can hold the status quo in place.
• Property Held Through a Business Entity: Real estate owned by an LLC or corporation often becomes a business divorce issue, involving deadlock, misappropriated funds, and judicial dissolution alongside the property question itself.

What to Do and What to Know Before a Property Dispute Escalates

Start by gathering the documents that define who owns what: the recorded deed, the closing statement, any purchase contract, the operating or partnership agreement if an entity holds title, and any written communication about the property. Disputes over real estate are won and lost on paper. If you are a co-owner who suspects the other side may try to sell, mortgage, or move into the property, tell an attorney immediately, because an emergency injunction is far easier to obtain before the act than a remedy afterward.

Deadlines matter more than most owners realize. A lawsuit on a written contract generally must be filed within five years, while a claim on an oral or implied contract has four years. Fraud claims run four years from discovery, capped at twelve years overall. The window to seek specific performance of a contract is only one year, which catches many buyers off guard after a failed closing. Rescission claims carry four years. On the ownership side, Florida bars a suit to recover land unless the claimant or a predecessor possessed it within seven years before filing, and adverse possession claims require seven years of continuous possession and, under the statute, follow strict filing and legal description requirements. Waiting to see whether a problem resolves itself is one of the most common and costly mistakes.

For landlords, the notice is everything. A tenant who fails to pay rent receives a written demand, and if the default continues for three days after delivery, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and court-observed legal holidays, the landlord may terminate. For curable lease violations, the notice must give seven days to correct, while certain incurable violations allow a seven-day notice to vacate without a chance to cure. Accepting partial rent does not waive the right to terminate, but the landlord must follow one of the statute’s handling options, such as giving a receipt, depositing the funds in the court registry, or serving a fresh notice. A tenancy with no set end date is ended by written notice delivered in the manner the statute prescribes.

On where the case will be heard, Lighthouse Point is in Broward County, whose civil cases belong to the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, with regional courthouses in Deerfield Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, and Plantation. Disputes over $50,000 are heard in circuit court, disputes between $8,000.01 and $50,000 in county court, and small claims cover amounts up to $8,000. The Seventeenth Circuit also maintains complex business divisions that can handle larger business and construction disputes, and filers may request direct assignment under the circuit’s administrative order. A quiet title complaint can be filed in any county where part of the land lies, and a property that spans Broward and Palm Beach County lines may involve the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit as well. Federal court in the Southern District of Florida sits in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach for cases that qualify.

How Partition and Quiet Title Actually Work in Florida

These two remedies are often confused, and the difference drives strategy. Partition assumes everyone legitimately owns a share and asks the court to end the co-ownership. Quiet title assumes someone’s claim to the property is invalid or unclear and asks the court to resolve who owns it. A single dispute can involve both: a court may first need to determine each party’s interest before it can divide anything.

A partition complaint must describe the land, identify the owners and where they live, and state each owner’s share. After the court enters a judgment of partition, it appoints three commissioners, chosen by the court unless the parties agree, who evaluate whether the property can be divided fairly. If they conclude it cannot be divided without prejudice to the owners, the court may order a public auction, with proceeds split by ownership percentage. A sale on credit is possible for good cause, but at least one-third of the purchase money must be paid down unless everyone consents otherwise. For heirs property, a court generally may not order a division in kind or a sale until it applies the heirs property statute’s factors, and in practice that statute often gives other family cotenants a chance to buy out the one who wants to sell.

Quiet title lawsuits fall within the court’s equity jurisdiction and cover a person claiming legal or equitable title, as well as situations where two or more people claim the same land under a common title. A plaintiff may seek to cancel a deed or other evidence of title held by someone who is not the rightful owner. The plaintiff generally must trace title back at least seven years before filing, unless the court orders otherwise. Where the claim rests on an allegedly fraudulent conveyance, Florida allows summary procedure, and the court is directed to advance the case on its calendar, which can shorten the timeline considerably.

When Co-Owned Property Sits Inside a Company

Many Lighthouse Point area investment properties are held through an LLC or corporation, and a fight among owners then becomes a question of entity law. A member or manager may ask a circuit court to dissolve an LLC on grounds such as unlawful conduct of the company’s affairs, impracticability of operating under the operating agreement, illegal or fraudulent conduct by those in control, misappropriation or waste of assets, or a management deadlock that threatens irreparable injury. The court may appoint a receiver or custodian after notice and a hearing, or order a purchase of the petitioning member’s interest. If the operating agreement already contains a deadlock sale provision that is initiated before the court finds deadlock, that contractual mechanism generally governs instead.

For corporations, a shareholder may seek judicial dissolution on statutory grounds, and the corporation or other shareholders can elect to buy the petitioner’s shares at fair value to avoid dissolution. If the parties agree on value and terms within 60 days of the first election, the court enters an order implementing the purchase, and the election is irrevocable unless the court finds it equitable to set it aside. During the case, a court can issue injunctions, appoint a custodian, and take steps to preserve assets. Because the firm handles both business divorce and real estate litigation, these overlapping disputes do not have to be split between lawyers.

Lighthouse Point Real Estate Questions, Answered

What does a real estate attorney do in Lighthouse Point beyond closings?

The work covers contract review and negotiation on purchases and sales, and also litigation when something goes wrong: partition, quiet title, failed closings, landlord and tenant disputes, and injunctions to protect property. The firm handles both transactions and disputes.

Can one co-owner force the sale of a jointly owned house?

Generally yes. Florida allows a co-owner to ask the court for partition, and if the property cannot be divided fairly, the court may order it sold and the proceeds distributed according to each owner’s share. Special rules apply when the property qualifies as heirs property.

What is heirs property, and why does it matter?

It is real estate held as tenants in common where there is no binding agreement among all cotenants about partition, at least one cotenant acquired title from a relative, and further conditions are met, such as relatives holding twenty percent or more of the interests. Heirs property is partitioned under a separate statute with added protections for family members.

How long do I have to sue over a breached real estate contract?

For a contract founded on a written instrument, five years. For an oral or implied contract, four years. An action seeking specific performance has only one year, so a buyer who wants the property itself rather than money should not delay.

Can a court force a seller to complete the sale?

Yes. Specific performance is an equitable remedy ordering a party to carry out the contract, and courts regard land as unique. The firm obtained such a judgment for a client after a five-day bench trial in Broward County Circuit Court.

What is the difference between a partition action and a quiet title action?

Partition ends co-ownership among people who all hold valid interests. Quiet title resolves a dispute about whether someone’s claim to the property is valid at all, and can cancel an improper deed or cloud on title.

Can I stop a co-owner from selling or mortgaging property while we are in litigation?

Often, yes. Temporary and emergency injunctions can freeze the property and company assets while the dispute is pending. Acting before the transaction occurs improves the odds considerably.

How does adverse possession work if someone has been using part of my land?

Without color of title, the claimant must show seven years of actual, continuous possession under a claim of title exclusive of others, and must follow the statutory filing requirements, including a full legal description. With color of title, seven years of continuous possession is also required, and the instrument must be recorded in the county where the land lies. Owners who spot encroachment should address it early.

I live in New York or New Jersey and co-own a South Florida property. Do I have to attend every hearing?

No. The firm regularly represents clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, handles the local court appearances, and keeps out of state clients informed throughout, including through scheduled conference calls.

Is it worth hiring an attorney for a smaller property dispute?

Often it is, because the cost of an improperly served notice, a missed deadline, or a poorly drafted agreement can exceed the cost of getting advice first. The firm looks for cost-effective solutions, including mediation and negotiated buyouts, before recommending full litigation.

Will my case have to go to trial?

Not necessarily. Many property disputes resolve through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, and the firm is experienced in each. Trial remains available when a fair resolution cannot be reached.

Serving Real Estate Clients From Lighthouse Point Across South Florida

The firm’s work for Lighthouse Point property owners begins in northern Broward County and extends outward. From Lighthouse Point itself, clients come from neighboring Pompano Beach and Deerfield Beach, from Fort Lauderdale and its surrounding neighborhoods, and from communities throughout Broward County. The firm also serves owners in West Palm Beach and Boca Raton and across Palm Beach County, including those whose property or business partners are on the other side of the county line.

Because many owners hold South Florida real estate from afar, the firm also represents clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who have business or real estate interests here, as well as referred clients of other attorneys who need a litigator in a Florida court. Whether the property is a family home, a rental, a commercial parcel, or a share in an investment, the firm’s reach covers the places where these disputes arise.

Talk With a Lighthouse Point Real Estate Lawyer Before the Dispute Hardens

Property disputes tend to get more expensive and less flexible the longer they sit. If you are weighing a partition, a quiet title claim, a failed closing, or an emergency to protect a property, the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can review your documents and explain your options. Call to speak with a Lighthouse Point real estate lawyer about your situation and the deadlines that apply to it.