Lighthouse Point Real Estate Title Dispute Attorney

The goal in a title fight is simple to state and hard to reach: a court order or a signed resolution that says, in recorded form, who owns the property and that no one else has a claim on it. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team works toward that result for property owners, co-owners, investors, and families in Lighthouse Point and throughout Broward County and Palm Beach County, handling real estate litigation that includes quiet title actions, partition cases, and competing ownership claims.

A Lighthouse Point real estate title dispute attorney is usually called when something has surfaced that the owner did not expect: a recorded instrument that should not be there, a former partner or relative who still appears on title, a neighbor claiming land they have occupied, or a deed whose validity is being questioned. These problems tend to stay quiet until someone tries to sell, refinance, or divide the property. Then the cloud on title becomes a closing that cannot happen.

Title disputes are not interchangeable with other property conflicts, and choosing the wrong vehicle costs time. A quiet title action asks a court to declare ownership and remove competing claims. A partition action does not dispute who owns the property; it assumes co-ownership and asks the court to end it. A contract dispute over a failed closing is a different claim again, with its own deadlines. Sorting out which of these you actually have is the first piece of real work.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for a Title Dispute

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team is a business and real estate litigation firm serving Lighthouse Point, Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, and the rest of Broward and Palm Beach Counties, along with clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who own property or business interests in South Florida.

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 at Emory University in 1986 and his law degree at the University of Miami in 1989. 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 federal experience matters in title work when a dispute crosses into entity or multi-state issues.

The firm practices as a true legal team, meaning everyone working on a file knows it and can answer when a client calls. There is a strict 24 hour return call policy when attorneys are in court. For real estate matters, the firm’s record includes a recent case in which, after a five-day bench trial in Broward County Circuit Court, the court entered a 32-page final judgment awarding the firm’s client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. That result reflects the kind of detailed, document-driven trial preparation that title cases demand.

The firm also handles local court appearances for clients who live elsewhere, so an owner in New York or New Jersey with a Lighthouse Point property problem does not need to travel for every hearing. Many matters arrive as referrals from other attorneys, and the firm keeps referring counsel informed throughout.

Types of Title and Ownership Disputes We Handle

• Quiet Title Actions: A suit asking the court to declare who owns the land and cancel competing claims. Florida law lets a person claiming legal or equitable title bring the action, including to remove a recorded conveyance or other instrument held by someone who is not the rightful owner. The suit may be filed in any county where part of the land sits.
• Partition Among Co-Owners: Former business partners, siblings, unmarried couples, and investors who hold a property together and cannot agree on its future. The court either divides the land or, when division would hurt the owners, orders a sale and splits the proceeds by interest.
• Inherited Property Disputes: Relatives who inherited real estate as tenants in common may fall under Florida’s heirs property rules, which change how partition proceeds and give cotenants protections that ordinary partition does not.
• Adverse Possession Claims: A person occupying land, or a record owner confronting an occupant, faces strict statutory requirements, including seven years of possession and, for claims under color of title, recording of the instrument the claim rests on.
• Fraudulent or Forged Conveyances: Deeds signed under false pretenses or without authority. Florida provides a summary procedure for quiet title actions grounded on an alleged fraudulent conveyance, and the court is directed to move the case up on its calendar.
• Disputes Between Business Partners Over Property: Real estate held by an LLC or partnership that is in the middle of a business divorce, where the question of who controls or can sell the asset is tangled up with the entity dispute.
• Failed Closings and Contract Claims: When a buyer or seller refuses to perform, the remedy may be damages or specific performance, and the filing deadlines differ sharply between them.
• Landlord and Tenant Conflicts: Possession disputes that turn on notice requirements, such as the three-day nonpayment demand, which excludes weekends and court-observed holidays, or the seven-day notice for non-curable violations.

What to Do Once You Discover a Cloud on Your Title

Start with the paper. Pull your deed, closing documents, title insurance policy, survey, and any correspondence about the property. Then obtain the recorded chain of documents affecting the parcel from the Clerk of Court in the county where it sits. Lighthouse Point is in Broward County, so the relevant records and the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit are where most of your case will live. Knowing exactly what is recorded, and by whom, shapes everything that follows.

If you have title insurance, notify the insurer promptly and in writing. Some policies obligate the insurer to defend certain title challenges, and delay can complicate that. Do not sign anything a co-owner, claimant, or their representative sends you without having it reviewed, and avoid informal deals with a claimant that are not written and recorded. A handshake settlement with a former partner does not clear title.

Deadlines matter more than most owners expect. Florida bars a suit to recover real property unless the plaintiff or a predecessor was in possession within seven years before filing. A written-contract claim generally carries five years, an oral or implied contract claim four years, and a fraud claim four years from discovery with an outer limit of twelve. A specific performance action has only one year, which is why a failed closing needs attention quickly. Which period applies depends on how your claim is characterized, and that characterization is a judgment call worth making early.

Where a quiet title case is filed, the plaintiff generally must trace, or deraign, the chain of title for at least seven years before suit unless the court orders otherwise. This is document-heavy work, and gaps in the chain are common in properties that passed through informal transfers or several family members. If someone is about to sell, encumber, or move assets while the dispute is pending, an emergency injunction may be appropriate to preserve the status quo.

In Broward County, larger business-related real estate disputes can be assigned to the Seventeenth Circuit’s complex business division through a specific direct-filing procedure. Whether a case belongs there depends on its nature and the claims involved, and the filing mechanics are set by administrative order.

Quiet Title Versus Partition: Choosing the Right Claim

Owners often arrive believing they need one remedy when the facts call for another. In a quiet title action, ownership itself is contested. You are asking the court to decide whose claim is valid and to cancel the invalid ones. The court has authority over claims of legal or equitable title, and also over situations where several people claim the same land through a common source. The judgment becomes the record that clears the cloud.

Partition starts from the opposite premise. The owners agree, or the court accepts, that each holds an interest; what they cannot agree on is what to do with it. The complaint must describe the land, name the owners and where they live, and state each owner’s share. If the court orders partition, it appoints three commissioners, chosen by the court unless the parties agree on them. If the commissioners report that dividing the property would prejudice the owners, the court may order a public sale to the highest bidder and divide the proceeds in proportion to ownership. A sale on credit is possible for good cause, but at least one-third of the price must be paid down unless everyone consents otherwise.

Inherited property adds a layer. Florida’s Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act applies to partition actions filed on or after July 1, 2020. Property qualifies as heirs property when it is held in tenancy in common without a binding agreement on 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. Once a court finds heirs property, the special procedure governs unless all cotenants agree otherwise in a record. Partition in kind is not ordered unless the court is satisfied that commissioners considered the statutory factors and concluded that dividing the land would prejudice the cotenants as a group. In practice, this gives family co-owners more room to buy out a relative before a forced sale.

Some disputes involve both. A property co-owned by former business partners may need a partition claim for the land and a separate claim over money, accounting, or fiduciary duty, and when the property sits inside an LLC the entity’s dissolution rules may control who can act at all. Courts can dissolve an LLC when members are deadlocked and irreparable injury is threatened, or when assets are being misappropriated or wasted, and can appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing. Untangling which forum and which claims fit is part of how the firm approaches these cases.

Questions About Title Disputes in Lighthouse Point

What is a cloud on title?

A cloud on title is any recorded document or outstanding claim that casts doubt on who owns a property or whether it can be sold free of competing interests. It might be a defective deed, an unreleased lien, a forged conveyance, or a claim by a former co-owner. A quiet title judgment is the usual way to remove it permanently.

Which court handles a quiet title case for Lighthouse Point property?

Lighthouse Point property falls in Broward County, which is covered by the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit. Quiet title suits may be filed in any county where any part of the land is located, and they are heard in the circuit court’s equity jurisdiction.

How long must I trace the chain of title in a quiet title suit?

The statute generally requires the plaintiff to deraign title for at least seven years before filing, unless the court orders otherwise. In practice, the more complicated the history, the more important it is to assemble the record before filing.

Can a co-owner force the sale of a property I inherited with my siblings?

A co-owner can file a partition action, but if the property qualifies as heirs property, Florida’s special procedure applies. It generally gives the other cotenants a chance to buy out the requesting owner and requires the court to consider specific factors before ordering a sale.

How long do I have to sue over a failed real estate closing?

It depends on the remedy. An action for specific performance carries a one-year period. A claim on a written contract generally carries five years, while an oral or implied contract has four. Because the periods differ so much, the claim should be evaluated promptly.

Can someone take my land by occupying it?

Adverse possession is possible but demanding. Without color of title, the occupant must show actual, continued possession for seven years under a claim of title exclusive of others, and must file a return with the county property appraiser including a full legal description. Under color of title, the instrument the claim relies on must be recorded with the circuit court clerk.

What happens if my business partner transferred company property without my consent?

Depending on your entity documents, you may have claims for breach of fiduciary duty, an accounting, and recovery of the property or its value, and a court can issue injunctive relief to stop further transfers while the case is pending. Judicial dissolution may also be available where assets are being misappropriated.

Is a title dispute the same as a boundary or survey dispute?

Not exactly. A boundary dispute concerns where one parcel ends and another begins, often resolved with surveys and testimony. A title dispute concerns who holds ownership. They can overlap, but the claims, evidence, and remedies are different.

Do I need to appear in person if I live out of state?

Generally the firm handles local appearances and proceedings for out-of-state owners and keeps them informed at each stage. Some hearings or a trial may call for your testimony, but you would not travel for routine matters.

Does a title dispute always end up at trial?

No. Many are resolved through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, particularly when the parties share a business or family relationship and have reasons to avoid a prolonged fight. The firm is experienced in alternative dispute resolution as well as courtroom litigation and looks for the resolution that fits the client’s goals and budget.

Can I stop a sale while a title dispute is pending?

In urgent situations, a court can issue temporary injunctive relief to preserve property and prevent transfers during the case. The court weighs the claim and the threatened harm, so the request needs to be supported by documents showing why waiting would cause real damage.

Serving Title Dispute Clients Across Lighthouse Point and South Florida

The firm’s work for Lighthouse Point owners begins in Broward County and reaches outward. From Lighthouse Point itself, our real estate litigation team represents owners in neighboring Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Hillsboro Beach, and Oakland Park, and further south into Fort Lauderdale, Wilton Manors, and Coral Springs. We also serve clients across Broward County in communities such as Parkland, Coconut Creek, Margate, Tamarac, Plantation, Sunrise, Hollywood, and Weston.

Many title and partition cases cross the county line, so we represent clients throughout Palm Beach County as well, including Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, West Palm Beach, and Palm Beach Gardens. Owners from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who hold investment property, vacation homes, or shares of jointly owned real estate in South Florida work with us regularly, and we handle the Florida filings and hearings on their behalf.

Speak With a Lighthouse Point Title Dispute Lawyer

If a recorded claim, a co-owner, or a contested deed is standing between you and a clean sale, refinance, or division of your property, talking with a Lighthouse Point title dispute lawyer early can narrow your options before deadlines do it for you. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team will review your documents, explain which claim fits your facts, and lay out a path that serves your goals without driving up cost for its own sake. Call to schedule a consultation.