Margate Real Estate Title Dispute Attorney

A title dispute in Broward County usually surfaces at the worst possible moment: a closing that stalls because a title search turned up a competing claim, a refinance that dies over an old recorded deed, or a co-owner who suddenly asserts a share of a property you assumed was yours alone. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team handles business and real estate litigation for property owners, investors, and families in Margate and across Broward County and Palm Beach County, and a Margate real estate title dispute attorney is often the first call when ownership of a parcel is questioned.

Title disputes are different from ordinary contract disagreements because the remedy is not just money. The goal is a court order that says who owns the land, removes a cloud from the record, or forces a sale that frees an owner from a shared asset. That distinction shapes everything: which court you file in, which statute governs, how far back you must trace your ownership, and how quickly you must move. A boundary squabble, a forged deed, an heir who surfaces years after a parent’s death, and a former business partner who still appears on the deed are all “title problems,” yet each calls for a different claim.

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

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents business owners, investors, and families in South Florida’s most difficult business and real estate disputes, with a practice built around partner and co-owner conflicts, complex contract litigation, partition actions, and real estate title disputes. 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. 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.

Title cases tend to turn on documents and dealing history: the wording of a deed, the terms of an operating agreement that explains why a property sits in one name, the sequence of conveyances. The firm prepares these cases with that level of detail. Its real estate practice reaches commercial and residential transactions and litigation, including failed closings and purchase and sale disputes, and in 2024 that work produced a 32-page final judgment from the Broward County Circuit Court awarding the firm’s client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract after a five-day bench trial.

The firm practices as a true legal team, so everyone working on a matter knows the file, and it keeps a strict 24 hour return call policy if an attorney is in court. Its lawyers are experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as courtroom litigation, and the firm looks for the resolution that fits a client’s goals and budget rather than stretching a case out for its own sake. For clients who live in New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut but own property here, the firm handles the local court appearances so travel is not required for every hearing. It also works regularly with referring attorneys, including out of state counsel whose clients own Florida real estate.

Common Types of Title Disputes We See Around Margate

• Quiet Title Actions: A lawsuit asking the court to declare who owns a parcel and cancel a competing deed, lien claim, or other recorded instrument that clouds the title. Florida’s chancery statutes allow a claimant to seek this relief where someone who is not the rightful owner holds or asserts evidence of title.
• Partition Between Co-Owners: Former business partners, siblings who inherited a home, unmarried couples, and investors in a shared property sometimes cannot agree on use or sale. Partition lets a court divide the land or, when that is impractical, order a sale and split the proceeds.
• Heirs Property Disputes: Property held in common after a relative’s death can fall under Florida’s Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act, which changes how a court handles the case and favors partition in kind over a forced sale in many situations.
• Fraudulent or Forged Conveyances: A deed signed by someone who did not own the property, or a transfer made to defeat a co-owner’s rights, can be attacked through a quiet title action founded on fraud, which Florida law allows to proceed on a summary track.
• Adverse Possession Claims: A neighbor or occupant who has held land openly and exclusively for the statutory period may claim ownership, and an owner who has ignored an encroachment needs to understand how that clock works.
• Failed Closings and Contract Title Defects: When a purchase contract falls apart over a title defect, the dispute over deposits, cure periods, and specific performance often has to be resolved alongside the question of who holds good title.
• Business Partner Disputes Over Property: Real estate placed in one partner’s name, or held by an LLC that is now deadlocked, can produce competing ownership claims that require both a business and a title analysis.

What to Do When Ownership of Your Property Is Challenged

Start by gathering the paper trail before anyone else shapes the narrative. That means your deed, the closing documents from your purchase, any title insurance policy and its commitment, surveys, mortgage and satisfaction records, and any operating or partnership agreement that explains why title sits where it does. If a family member or former partner is the other party, resist the urge to negotiate informally by text or email; messages sent in frustration tend to become exhibits. Do not sign a quitclaim deed, a lis pendens release, or any “clarifying” document someone places in front of you until a lawyer has read it, because a hastily signed instrument can hand away the very interest you are trying to protect.

Pay attention to timing, because several different clocks may be running at once. A suit to recover real property generally fails unless the plaintiff or a predecessor was in possession within seven years before filing. Adverse possession, with or without color of title, requires seven years of continuous possession, and a claim under color of title is not effective until the instrument it rests on has been recorded with the clerk of the circuit court in the county where the land lies. A quiet title plaintiff is expected to trace title back at least seven years unless the court orders otherwise. Contract-based claims arising from a purchase carry their own limits: five years on a written instrument, four on an oral or implied agreement, four years to seek rescission, and only one year for an action seeking specific performance. Fraud claims run four years from discovery, with an outer cap of 12 years. Because these periods differ so much, a dispute that looks stale on one theory may be very much alive on another, and a dispute that looks fresh may already be close to barred.

Where a dispute lands depends on the property’s location. Margate sits in Broward County, whose circuit court is the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, and a quiet title complaint may be filed in any county where part of the land is situated. Broward’s circuit civil division sits at the Central Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, and the county also operates regional courthouses in Deerfield Beach, Hollywood, and Plantation. Disputes over amounts above the county court ceiling belong in circuit court, and title and partition cases are equitable matters heard there. The Seventeenth Circuit also maintains complex business divisions that handle certain large business disputes, and a case that began as a business conflict but turns on real property may belong in front of those judges. If one of your co-owners or counterparties holds property in Palm Beach County, that county’s circuit court, the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, sits in West Palm Beach. When a federal question or diversity of citizenship is involved, as it sometimes is with out of state owners, the Southern District of Florida holds court in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.

If someone is threatening to sell, mortgage, or strip assets from the property while the dispute is pending, ask early about emergency relief. A court can issue a temporary injunction to freeze a transfer or preserve the status quo until ownership is decided, and that protection matters far more before a closing than after one. The firm regularly seeks temporary and permanent injunctions in exactly these circumstances.

How Partition Works When Co-Owners Cannot Agree

Partition is the tool most often misunderstood by people who share a property with someone they no longer trust or like. Every co-owner generally has a right to ask the court to end the shared ownership. The complaint must describe the land, identify the owners and where they live, state what share each holds, and include whatever else the court needs to sort out the parties’ rights. If the court enters a judgment of partition, it appoints three commissioners, chosen by the court unless the parties agree on them, who evaluate whether the land can be divided fairly.

Most residential lots and condominium units cannot be physically split without harming everyone’s value. When the commissioners report that division would prejudice the owners, the court may order the property sold at public auction to the highest bidder, with proceeds divided according to each party’s interest. The court can allow a sale on reasonable credit for good cause, though at least one-third of the purchase money must be paid down unless every party consents to different terms.

Heirs property changes the analysis. When real property is held as tenants in common, there is no binding agreement among the cotenants about partition, at least one cotenant took title from a relative, and another statutory condition is met, such as relatives holding twenty percent or more of the interests, the court applies the heirs property act unless all cotenants agree otherwise in a record. Under that act, a partition in kind is not entered unless the court is satisfied that the commissioners weighed the statutory factors and found that dividing the land would prejudice the cotenants as a group. In practical terms, a family that inherited a Margate home together has more protection against a forced auction than two unrelated investors would.

When a Title Fight Is Really a Business Dispute

Many of the title disputes our firm handles are business disputes wearing a real estate costume. A property was bought through an LLC, one member later claims the other had no authority to sign the deed, and suddenly the question is both who owns the building and whether the company can still function. In those situations Florida’s LLC statute offers remedies beyond the title case itself. A circuit court may dissolve an LLC when a manager or member shows that the entity’s affairs are being conducted unlawfully, that carrying on in line with the operating agreement is not reasonably practicable, that controlling members are acting or are expected to act illegally or fraudulently, that assets are being misappropriated or wasted to the company’s injury, or that managers or members are deadlocked and irreparable injury is threatened or occurring. The court may also appoint a receiver or custodian after notice and a hearing, or order a purchase of the petitioning member’s interest.

For corporations, a shareholder petitioning for dissolution can find that the corporation or another shareholder elects to buy the petitioner’s shares at fair value. If the parties settle on value and terms within 60 days after the first election is filed, the court enters an order directing the purchase on those terms. That election, once made, is irrevocable unless the court finds it equitable to modify it. Where the operating or shareholder agreement contains a deadlock sale provision that is initiated before the court finds the grounds for dissolution, that contractual mechanism can take the place of a judicial dissolution order. Sorting out which path applies, and whether the real estate should be addressed inside the business case or in a separate title action, is exactly the kind of judgment call the firm makes in these matters.

Questions About Title Disputes in Margate

What is the difference between a title dispute and a boundary dispute?

A title dispute asks who legally owns a parcel or an interest in it. A boundary dispute accepts that each side owns its own lot but disagrees about where the line between them runs. The two overlap when a survey reveals that a fence, driveway, or structure sits on land described in someone else’s deed, and that situation can lead to both claims at once.

What does a quiet title action actually accomplish?

It produces a court judgment that declares who holds title and cancels competing claims, deeds, or other recorded instruments that cloud the record. Once the judgment is recorded, a title company and lender can rely on it, which is often the practical goal of someone trying to sell or refinance.

How far back do I have to prove my ownership?

Florida’s quiet title statute expects a plaintiff to trace title for at least seven years before filing suit unless the court orders otherwise. In a contested case, the chain of ownership often needs to be traced further than that to expose a defect.

Can someone take my property by adverse possession in Florida?

It is possible but demanding. A claimant must show seven years of continuous possession, held as their own and exclusive of any other right. A claim under color of title requires the supporting instrument to have been recorded in the county where the property lies, and a claim without color of title requires the claimant to file a return with the property appraiser that includes a full legal description. An owner who monitors the property and acts on encroachments is rarely at risk.

Can I force the sale of a house I co-own with my sibling?

Generally, yes, through a partition action, though inherited property may be governed by the heirs property act, which gives the court reasons to avoid a forced auction. If the home is held as heirs property, the court is more likely to explore buyouts or division in kind before ordering a sale.

What if my former business partner is still on the deed?

That is a common and fixable problem. Depending on the agreements involved, the solution may be a negotiated buyout, a partition action, a quiet title claim, or a business-side proceeding that settles ownership of the entity holding the property. The firm reviews the operating or partnership agreement alongside the deed because the business documents often explain what was intended.

Is it too late to enforce a purchase contract if the seller backed out?

An action for specific performance has a one-year limit, which is far shorter than the limit on a damages claim. If a seller refused to close, that short window is the first thing to check, and it is the reason these claims should be evaluated quickly.

What if I discover that a deed to my property was forged?

You may bring a quiet title action based on the fraudulent attempted conveyance, and Florida law allows that kind of action to proceed under a summary procedure with the court advancing it on the calendar. You should also preserve every record of how the forged instrument was prepared, notarized, and recorded, since those details drive both the title case and any related claims.

Do I have to live in Florida to bring or defend a title suit here?

No. Title actions are filed where the land is located, regardless of where the owners live. The firm regularly represents clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut and handles the local appearances while keeping them informed by phone and scheduled conference calls.

Does every title dispute end up at trial?

No. Many resolve through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, and a buyout, a structured sale, or a recorded corrective deed can end a dispute without a hearing. Some cases, however, do require a trial, and the firm’s results include a multi-day bench trial that ended in a detailed final judgment.

Can a title problem affect a sale that is already under contract?

Yes. A recorded claim, an unreleased lien, or a competing deed can prevent a title company from insuring the sale and can give a buyer grounds to delay or walk away. Moving quickly to cure the defect, or to preserve your rights under the contract, often decides whether the deal survives.

Serving Title Dispute Clients Across Margate and South Florida

The firm’s real estate title work starts in Margate and Broward County and reaches the neighboring communities where property owners and investors have interests: Coconut Creek, Coral Springs, Tamarac, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Lauderhill, Sunrise, Plantation, Fort Lauderdale, and Hollywood. Across the county line in Palm Beach County, the firm serves clients in Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Wellington, Palm Beach Gardens, and West Palm Beach, along with owners throughout South Florida whose property or business partners are located here.

Many clients live elsewhere but own a condo, a rental property, or a share of a commercial building in the area. Owners from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, and the attorneys who refer them, rely on the firm to manage Florida court proceedings while they remain at home.

Speak With a Margate Title Dispute Lawyer Before a Claim Hardens

If someone is contesting your ownership, a co-owner will not cooperate, or a recorded document is blocking a sale, a conversation with a Margate title dispute lawyer at the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can clarify which claims you have and which deadlines are running. The firm’s Boca Raton business and real estate litigators serve clients throughout Broward County and Palm Beach County. Call today to schedule a consultation and talk through your situation.