Palm Beach County Real Estate Title Dispute Attorney

A title dispute is rarely about paperwork alone. It is a fight over who actually owns a piece of land, and until a court says so, nobody can cleanly sell it, refinance it, develop it, or pass it to an heir. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team handles real estate litigation for owners, investors, and families, and as a Palm Beach County real estate title dispute attorney, the firm represents clients in quiet title actions, partition cases, and competing ownership claims throughout Palm Beach County and neighboring Broward County.

The practical damage from a clouded title tends to show up at the worst moment: a buyer’s title company refuses to insure the sale, a lender pulls out of a refinance, or a former partner records a claim against a property you assumed was yours alone. Florida gives owners real tools to resolve these problems, but the tools have specific requirements, and the case is usually won or lost on the documents, the chain of title, and how the other side’s claim came into existence.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for Title and Co-Ownership Disputes

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents business owners, investors, and families in South Florida business and real estate disputes, serving clients in Palm Beach County, Broward County, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, and Fort Lauderdale. 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 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 in business and real estate cases in both state and federal courts.

Title disputes seldom arise in isolation. They grow out of failed partnerships, inherited property, unmarried couples who bought together, and investors who want out of a shared deal. Because the firm’s practice centers on business divorce and co-owner conflicts, it sees both the ownership question and the relationship that produced it. That matters when a title fight is really a partnership fight in disguise, and the best result may involve a buyout or negotiated sale rather than a judgment.

The firm’s record in contested real estate litigation includes a 5-day bench trial in Broward County that ended in a 32-page final judgment awarding the firm’s client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. The firm works as a true legal team, so everyone on a matter knows the file, and it keeps a strict 24 hour return call policy. Attorneys here are experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as courtroom litigation, and they look for the resolution that fits the client’s goals and budget. Many clients live in New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut; the firm handles the local court appearances so they 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 problems.

Types of Title and Ownership Disputes We Handle

• Quiet Title Actions: A suit under Chapter 65 asking the court to declare who owns the land and to cancel a deed, lien claim, or other instrument that clouds title. Florida courts also hear cases where two or more people claim the same land under a common source of title, and a plaintiff generally must trace title back at least seven years before filing unless the court orders otherwise.
• Partition Between Co-Owners: When joint owners cannot agree, Chapter 64 lets the court divide the property or, if division would unfairly prejudice the owners, order a public sale and split the proceeds in proportion to each owner’s share. Common parties include former business partners, unmarried couples, and investors in a shared purchase.
• Heirs Property: Land held as a tenancy in common among relatives, often after a death without a clear plan, is governed by Florida’s Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act. If the property qualifies, the court cannot simply order a sale; it must follow a protective process that favors partition in kind unless that would prejudice the cotenants as a group.
• Adverse Possession Claims: A neighbor, tenant, or occupant may claim ownership after seven years of continuous possession. Claims with color of title require a recorded instrument, and claims without it require possession under a claim of title that is not based on a written instrument, plus a filed return with a full legal description.
• Fraudulent or Forged Conveyances: A deed signed by someone who was not the owner, or procured by fraud, can be attacked in a quiet title action, and Florida law provides summary procedure and calendar priority for certain fraudulent-conveyance claims.
• Disputes Rooted in a Failed Business: Real estate placed in an LLC or held jointly by partners often becomes the center of a business divorce, raising questions about who holds title, who contributed what, and whether the property must be sold as part of dissolution.
• Failed Closings and Contract Enforcement: When a seller will not convey, a buyer can seek specific performance, but that remedy carries a one-year limitations period, so delay can cost the claim.
• Competing Claims and Recorded Instruments: Unreleased mortgages, old liens, unrecorded agreements, and conflicting deeds can all leave two parties holding paper that points to the same parcel.

What to Do When Someone Challenges or Clouds Your Title

Start by gathering what establishes your ownership: the deed, closing statement, title insurance policy, survey, any prior deeds in the chain, tax records, and every agreement with a co-owner, partner, or family member. If the dispute involves an entity, add the operating agreement or shareholder agreement and any capital contribution records. Then pull the recorded instruments for the parcel from the Palm Beach County Clerk’s records, so you know exactly what the other side has recorded and when. A competing deed, a lis pendens, or a claimed lien tells you a great deal about the theory you will face.

Pay attention to the clocks, because they differ by claim. A written contract claim generally carries a five-year limitations period, an oral contract four years, a rescission claim four years, and a fraud claim four years from discovery with a 12-year outer limit. Specific performance is the short one at one year. An action to recover real property is barred unless the plaintiff or a predecessor was in possession within seven years before filing. Which deadline controls depends on how the claim is framed, so identify the dispute early rather than waiting to see whether it resolves itself.

Do not sell, mortgage, or make major changes to the property while ownership is contested without advice, and do not try to fix a clouded title by recording your own instruments in response; that can add a second problem to the first. If assets or the property itself are at risk, such as a co-owner trying to transfer, encumber, or strip value from the parcel, ask about injunctive relief before the harm is done. Courts can enter emergency and temporary orders to hold the status quo while the title question is decided.

In Palm Beach County, these cases are filed in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, which sits in and for the county, and a quiet title or partition complaint may be filed in any county where part of the land lies. Circuit civil matters are heard at the main courthouse in West Palm Beach, with additional courthouses in Palm Beach Gardens, Delray Beach, Royal Palm Beach, and Belle Glade. Title and partition cases are equitable, so they proceed in circuit court rather than county court. If the parcel or the parties sit across the county line, Broward County cases belong to the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, and that circuit has a complex business division that handles certain business dissolution matters. Cases with federal jurisdiction go to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, which holds court in West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale.

How Partition Cases Actually Unfold

A partition complaint must describe the land, name the owners and their residences, state what each holds, and set out whatever else the court needs to sort out the parties’ rights. Once the court enters a judgment of partition, it appoints three commissioners, chosen by the court unless the parties agree on them, to determine whether the land can be divided fairly. Most residential and investment parcels do not divide cleanly, and when the commissioners report that division would prejudice the owners, the court may order a public sale to the highest bidder and divide the proceeds by ownership share. A sale on credit requires good cause and a down payment of at least one-third unless everyone consents otherwise.

The outcome is rarely as simple as a coin flip between “keep” and “sell.” Co-owners often have unequal contributions, one may have paid the taxes and insurance for years, or one may have lived on the property while the others did not. Those equities get sorted out in the partition case, and a negotiated buyout between owners frequently produces a better result than a forced auction. When relatives share inherited land, the heirs property rules add procedural protection, including a chance to buy out a cotenant at appraised value, so the stakes of identifying that status correctly are high.

When a Business Dispute Is Driving the Title Fight

If the property sits inside an LLC or corporation, title and dissolution can move together. Under Florida’s LLC statute, a member or manager can seek judicial dissolution on grounds that include deadlock with irreparable injury threatened, misappropriation or waste of assets, illegal conduct by those in control, or the impracticability of carrying on the business under the operating agreement. The court may appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing, or order the purchase of a petitioning member’s interest. For corporations, a shareholder petition can trigger the right of the corporation or other shareholders to elect to buy the petitioner out at fair value, and if the parties agree on value and terms within 60 days of the first election, the court enters the order on those terms. Where an operating or shareholder agreement has its own deadlock sale provision, that provision can displace the judicial remedy if it is initiated in time. Understanding which path your documents and facts support determines whether the real estate gets sold, transferred, or retained.

Palm Beach County Title Dispute Questions Answered

What is a quiet title action?

It is a lawsuit asking the court to determine who owns a piece of land and to remove competing claims or defective instruments that cloud the title. The judgment settles ownership so the property can be sold, financed, or transferred without the cloud.

How far back must I trace title to file one?

Florida’s quiet title statute generally requires the plaintiff to deraign title for at least seven years before filing, unless the court orders otherwise. A title search is the first piece of work in most cases.

Where do I file a quiet title or partition case?

These are equitable actions heard in circuit court, and a quiet title complaint may be filed in any county where part of the land lies. For property in Palm Beach County, that means the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit.

Can a co-owner force me to sell the property?

A co-owner can file for partition, and if the court finds the property cannot be fairly divided, it may order a sale and distribute the proceeds by ownership share. Heirs property gets additional protections that make a forced sale harder to obtain.

What counts as heirs property under Florida law?

It is real property held as tenants in common with no binding agreement governing partition, where at least one cotenant acquired title from a relative and an additional condition is met, such as twenty percent or more of the interests being held by relatives. If the court finds the property qualifies, it must apply the heirs property procedures unless all cotenants agree otherwise in a record.

Can someone take my land by living on it?

Adverse possession is possible in Florida, but it requires seven years of continuous, exclusive possession under a claim of title, and the claimant must follow specific filing requirements, including a legal description. A claim under color of title also depends on the underlying instrument being recorded in the right county.

How long do I have to sue over a title problem caused by a contract breach?

It depends on the theory. A written contract claim carries five years, an oral contract four, and specific performance only one. Because the clock differs by claim, confirm which deadline applies before assuming you have time.

What if my former partner is trying to sell or encumber the property?

You may be able to ask the court for temporary or emergency injunctive relief to stop a transfer while ownership is decided. Courts weigh how quickly harm is occurring and whether the property or assets could be moved out of reach before a final ruling.

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

No. Many of our clients live in New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut and own Florida property or share ownership with someone local. The suit is filed where the land sits, and we handle the court appearances so you do not need to attend every hearing in person.

Is it worth litigating, or should we try a buyout first?

Often both tracks run at once. A negotiated buyout, mediation, or arbitration can end a dispute faster and cheaper than trial, but a pending lawsuit can give a negotiation real leverage. The right sequence depends on how strong the title evidence is and what the other side wants.

Does a partition case end the relationship between business partners?

It can resolve their shared ownership of the property, but if they also co-own a company, the business side may need its own resolution through a buyout, dissolution, or negotiated separation. We look at both at the same time to avoid a result that fixes one problem and worsens the other.

Serving Real Estate Title Clients Across Palm Beach County and South Florida

The firm’s title and co-ownership work begins in West Palm Beach, where the main courthouse for Palm Beach County sits, and extends north through Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, Juno Beach, and Riviera Beach, and into Lake Park, North Palm Beach, and Tequesta. We represent owners in Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, Lake Worth Beach, Greenacres, Boynton Beach, and Palm Springs, and in the western communities of Belle Glade and Pahokee. In the southern part of the county we serve Delray Beach, Boca Raton, Highland Beach, and Lantana, as well as Atlantis and Manalapan.

Because many South Florida properties and the people who own them cross county lines, we also handle title and partition disputes in neighboring Broward County, including Fort Lauderdale, Deerfield Beach, Pompano Beach, Coral Springs, Parkland, and Hollywood. Clients in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who hold Palm Beach County or Broward County real estate, alone or with partners and relatives, work with us as well.

Speak With a Palm Beach County Title Dispute Lawyer

If someone is challenging your ownership, a co-owner will not agree on what to do with the property, or a cloud on your title is blocking a sale or refinance, the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can review the documents and tell you which claims and deadlines apply. Contact our Palm Beach County title dispute lawyer team to schedule a consultation and discuss the path most likely to resolve the ownership question efficiently.