Miramar Breach of Fiduciary Duty Attorney

When a co-owner who controlled the books, the bank accounts, or the direction of a Miramar company starts acting in his or her own interest instead of the business’s, the damage is usually discovered late: distributions that stopped, a capital contribution nobody can trace, a sudden change in who holds the keys. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team handles business and real estate litigation for owners, investors, and families in Broward County and Palm Beach County, and that work includes representing clients who need a Miramar breach of fiduciary duty attorney to hold a partner, manager, or officer accountable.

A fiduciary claim is different from an ordinary contract dispute. It rests on the idea that certain people, such as managers of an LLC, general partners, corporate officers and directors, and controlling owners, owe duties of loyalty and care to the entity and sometimes to the other owners. Self-dealing, diverting opportunities, paying oneself above what was agreed, commingling company money with personal funds, and hiding financial records are the kinds of conduct that give rise to these claims. The remedies can include an accounting, recovery of diverted money, removal of a manager, a court-supervised buyout, and in the right circumstances, dissolution of the company itself.

Miramar sits in southwestern Broward County, and the disputes that come out of it often involve family-run businesses, real estate holding companies, medical and professional practices, and investment partnerships where one owner handled the money and the others trusted the arrangement. By the time the problem surfaces, the question is no longer whether trust was broken but what can be proven, what can be recovered, and how quickly assets need to be frozen before they disappear.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for Fiduciary Duty Disputes

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

Andrew is joined by Senior Counsel Sundeep Nath, 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 this region, since the Southern District of Florida covers Broward and Palm Beach Counties and some business disputes belong there rather than in state court. The firm works as a true legal team, so everyone handling a matter knows the file, and a strict 24 hour return call policy applies when the attorneys are in court and cannot respond right away.

The firm’s results come from the courtroom as well as the negotiating table. After a 5-day bench trial in Broward County Circuit Court, the judge issued a 32-page final judgment awarding the firm’s client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. That outcome reflects the kind of detailed, document-driven preparation fiduciary cases demand, because these disputes are won on records, timelines, and the precise language of operating agreements, shareholder agreements, and partnership agreements. The attorneys are also experienced in mediation and arbitration, and they look for the resolution that serves the client’s goals and budget rather than prolonging a case for its own sake.

Situations That Give Rise to Fiduciary Duty Claims in Business Ownership

• Diverted company funds: A manager or partner routes revenue into a personal account, pays personal expenses from the company, or moves money to a related entity. These cases often combine claims for an accounting, breach of fiduciary duty, and recovery of the funds.
• Self-dealing transactions: A controlling owner causes the company to buy from, sell to, or lease from an entity he or she secretly owns, on terms that favor the insider rather than the business.
• Squeeze-outs of minority owners: Majority members or shareholders cut off distributions, strip the company of value, or change the ownership structure to push out a minority owner who has little say in daily management.
• Usurped business opportunities: A partner takes a deal, client, or property that belonged to the company and steers it to a competing venture, often while still holding a management role.
• Commingled accounts and missing records: Company and personal money are mixed, books are not kept, or a manager refuses to produce financial records. The lack of an accounting is frequently the first sign that something is wrong.
• Waste and mismanagement: Assets are being misappropriated or wasted in a way that injures the company. Florida’s LLC statute lists this among the grounds on which a court may dissolve an LLC at the request of a member or manager.
• Disputes inside family-owned businesses: Siblings, parents and children, or in-laws who share ownership face accusations of favoring one branch of the family, overpaying relatives, or draining the company. These cases require discretion alongside firm protection of the client’s financial interest.
• Partnership and real estate venture breakdowns: A managing partner in an investment property or development deal fails to account for rents, sale proceeds, or capital calls, leaving passive investors without information or money.

What to Do When You Suspect a Partner or Manager Is Betraying the Company

The first priority is to secure information while you still have access to it. Gather the operating agreement, shareholder agreement, or partnership agreement, along with the articles of organization or incorporation, tax returns, bank statements, loan documents, and any financial reports you have received. If you are a member or shareholder, you may have statutory and contractual rights to inspect company books, and a written request for records can both produce evidence and establish that the other side refused. Keep copies outside the company’s systems. Owners who are being squeezed out sometimes lose email and accounting access without warning.

Timing matters on two fronts. The statute of limitations for an action founded on a written instrument is five years, while a claim not founded on a written instrument carries four years, and a fraud claim runs four years from discovery with an outer cap of 12 years. Which period governs a given fiduciary claim depends on how the claim is pleaded and what conduct is involved, so do not assume you have the longer period. The more immediate danger is practical: money that is moving can be gone before a case is decided. When assets are at risk, a court can be asked for temporary injunctive relief to stop transfers or spending while the dispute is pending, and the firm is experienced in seeking emergency relief of that kind.

Avoid the common mistakes. Do not confront the other owner in writing before you understand what the records show, because a warning gives a wrongdoer time to move funds or alter documents. Do not remove company property or withhold your own contributions in retaliation, since that can create counterclaims against you. Do not sign a buyout, resignation, or release until the numbers have been examined. And do not wait on the theory that the relationship may repair itself while distributions keep going unpaid.

Business disputes of this size are heard in circuit court, which handles claims above $50,000. For Miramar residents and companies, that is the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit sitting in and for Broward County, and disputes involving Palm Beach County property or parties are heard in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit. Broward’s circuit has a complex business division that handles large business litigation and the dissolution of certain business entities, and a case can be filed directly into that division under the circuit’s administrative order. Federal court becomes an option where jurisdiction requirements are met, and the Southern District of Florida holds court in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. A lawyer’s early job is choosing the right forum and framing the claims so the case lands before a judge equipped to handle it.

Remedies Available When a Fiduciary Breaks Faith: Accountings, Recovery, Buyouts, and Dissolution

The right remedy depends on what the client wants the business to look like when the case ends. Where the owner wants to stay in the company, the focus is usually an accounting, a damages award for diverted funds, and court orders that restrain the wrongdoer from further misconduct. Where the relationship is beyond repair, the case may shift toward separation. Under Florida’s LLC statute, a manager or member can seek judicial dissolution on several grounds, including that controlling managers or members have acted or are expected to act illegally or fraudulently, that company assets are being misappropriated or wasted to the company’s injury, or that the owners are deadlocked and irreparable injury to the company is threatened. In an LLC dissolution proceeding, a court that finds sufficient merit may appoint a receiver or custodian after notice and a hearing, or may order the purchase of the petitioning member’s interest.

For corporations, Florida law offers a parallel path. A shareholder can petition for judicial dissolution on statutory grounds, and once such a proceeding begins, the corporation or other shareholders can elect to buy out the petitioner at fair value, which often turns a dissolution threat into a valuation negotiation. If the parties agree on fair value and terms within 60 days after the first election is filed, the court enters an order directing the purchase on those terms. During a dissolution proceeding, a court can issue injunctions, appoint a receiver or custodian, and take other steps to preserve company assets. Operating agreements and shareholder agreements may also contain their own deadlock sale or buyout mechanisms, and those provisions can control the outcome, which is one reason the agreement itself is the first document we study.

Valuation is frequently the real fight. Whether the result is a negotiated buyout, a structured wind-down, or a court-ordered sale, the number depends on how the business is valued, what adjustments are made for the misconduct, and whether diverted money is credited back to the injured owner. We prepare these cases with the financial detail they require, and we pursue mediation or arbitration when that path will reach a fair result faster than a trial.

Questions Miramar Business Owners Ask About Fiduciary Duty Claims

What is a breach of fiduciary duty in a business setting?

It is a failure by someone who owes duties of loyalty and care to a company or its owners to act in their interest. Typical examples include self-dealing, taking company opportunities, misusing company funds, concealing financial information, and favoring one owner at another’s expense. The specific duties depend on the entity type, the agreement, and the person’s role.

Who can be sued for breach of fiduciary duty?

Managers of LLCs, general partners, corporate officers and directors, and in some circumstances controlling members or shareholders can owe fiduciary duties. Whether a particular person owes a duty and to whom depends on the entity’s structure and the operating or shareholder agreement. Reviewing those documents is the starting point.

What can I recover if a partner took money from the company?

Depending on the facts, remedies can include an accounting to trace where money went, recovery of the diverted funds, damages for harm to the company or to you, and court orders restraining further misconduct. Claims for conversion and related theories are sometimes pleaded alongside fiduciary duty.

Can a court freeze assets while the case is pending?

Courts can issue temporary injunctions in appropriate cases, including early and emergency relief, to prevent assets from being moved or spent while the dispute is resolved. Whether relief is granted depends on the evidence presented and the legal standards for injunctive relief.

How long do I have to file a fiduciary duty claim in Florida?

The period depends on how the claim is characterized. A claim founded on a written instrument has a five-year period, a claim not founded on a written instrument has four years, and fraud has four years from discovery, capped at 12 years. Because the right period can turn on the nature of the claim, you should get advice promptly rather than assuming the longest deadline applies.

What is the difference between a derivative claim and a direct claim?

A direct claim belongs to you personally, such as being cut off from distributions that were owed to you. A derivative claim belongs to the company, where an owner sues on the company’s behalf because the entity itself was harmed, for example by a manager draining its accounts. Which type applies affects who receives any recovery and what procedural steps are required, so it is one of the first questions in case evaluation.

Can I sue my own family member who is a co-owner?

Yes. Fiduciary duties do not disappear because the people involved are related. Family business cases carry added sensitivity, and many are resolved through negotiated buyouts or mediation, but the legal obligations of a manager or controlling owner apply regardless of the family relationship.

My operating agreement says nothing about fiduciary duties. Do I still have a claim?

Possibly. Florida’s statutes impose default duties on LLC managers and members, and agreements can modify but not eliminate certain obligations. Even an agreement that is silent or poorly drafted may leave you with remedies. A close reading of the document and the parties’ history will show what applies.

Do I have to file in Broward County court if the business is in Miramar?

Generally the case belongs in the county where the defendant resides, where the company operates, or where the claim arose, and a Miramar business typically points to the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit in Broward County. If the dispute also involves Palm Beach County parties or property, venue may be available there. Choosing the proper forum is part of how a case is framed at the outset.

Will hiring a lawyer mean my case ends up in a long trial?

Not necessarily. Many fiduciary disputes resolve through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration after the key records are examined and the strength of the claims is clear. We pursue the path most likely to reach your goals efficiently, and we prepare for trial so that a settlement is negotiated from strength.

Can I live out of state and still bring a claim over a Florida business?

Yes. We regularly represent clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut whose business partners or co-owners are in South Florida. We handle the local court appearances and proceedings and keep you informed at each stage so you do not have to travel for every hearing.

Is it worth pursuing a claim if the amount missing is modest?

That depends on the amount, the strength of the evidence, and the cost of pursuing it. Cost matters, and our approach is to look for a resolution that makes economic sense rather than fees that outweigh the benefit. An early review can tell you whether the claim justifies litigation or is better resolved through a demand and negotiation.

Serving Fiduciary Duty and Business Dispute Clients Across Miramar and South Florida

From Miramar’s own neighborhoods and commercial corridors, the firm represents business owners, investors, and families throughout southern Broward County and well beyond it. We work with clients in Pembroke Pines, Hollywood, Hallandale Beach, Pembroke Park, West Park, Davie, Cooper City, and Weston, and across central and northern Broward in Fort Lauderdale, Plantation, Sunrise, Tamarac, Coral Springs, Parkland, Coconut Creek, Pompano Beach, and Deerfield Beach. Many fiduciary disputes involve companies whose owners live in different cities, so the same case can touch several of these communities at once.

The firm also serves Palm Beach County, including Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Lake Worth, West Palm Beach, and Palm Beach Gardens, and handles matters in both the Seventeenth and Fifteenth Judicial Circuits as well as federal court where the case calls for it. We represent out of state clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who hold business or real estate interests in South Florida, and we accept referrals from other attorneys whose clients have disputes in Florida.

Speak With a Miramar Breach of Fiduciary Duty Lawyer

If a partner, manager, or controlling owner has misused company money, shut you out of information, or acted against the business, the sooner the records are reviewed, the more options you keep. Call the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team to discuss your situation with a Miramar breach of fiduciary duty lawyer who handles business divorce, partnership and member disputes, and emergency injunctive relief in South Florida. We will review your agreements and records, explain what claims and remedies are realistic, and recommend a path that fits your goals and your budget.