Palm Beach Partition Action Attorney

A partition action does not always end with a house split down the middle, and it rarely gives either side a clean veto. In Florida, a co-owner who wants out of shared real estate can ask a court to divide the property or sell it, and the other owners generally cannot block that request. The Palm Beach partition action attorney team at the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents co-owners of real estate across Palm Beach County and Broward County, including former business partners, siblings who inherited property, unmarried couples, and investors who want out of a shared deal.

The practical stakes are larger than the filing suggests. Partition is an equitable remedy, which means a judge decides it based on fairness to everyone holding title. The outcome can be a physical division of land, a court-ordered sale at public auction, or a negotiated exit reached under the pressure of that process. Co-owners who wait often find that carrying costs, tax bills, and family tension keep growing while nothing gets resolved.

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

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team handles business and real estate litigation for owners, investors, and families throughout Palm Beach County, Broward County, and South Florida, along with clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who hold property or business interests here. Andrew M. He earned his undergraduate degree from Emory University in 1986 and his law degree from the University of Miami in 1989. Partition cases sit close to the center of his practice, which has long focused on conflicts among partners, LLC members, shareholders, and co-owners of property.

Sundeep Nath, Senior Counsel, a Northwestern-trained litigator, works alongside him with years of experience in business and real estate cases in both state and federal courts. The firm practices as a true legal team, so everyone working on your file knows it, and a strict 24 hour return call policy applies when the attorneys are in court. Many partition clients are out of state, and the firm handles the local court appearances so they do not have to travel for every hearing.

The firm also has relevant trial results. After a 5-day bench trial, the Broward County Circuit Court issued a 32-page final judgment granting the firm’s client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. Cases like that show what real estate litigation requires: command of the documents, the history between the parties, and the equitable remedies a judge can order. The attorneys are equally comfortable with mediation and arbitration, and they look for the resolution that fits the client’s goals and budget rather than prolonging a case for its own sake.

Situations That Lead to Partition Actions in Palm Beach County

• Former Business Partners Holding Property Together: A company that bought a building or land in the partners’ names often leaves them as co-owners after the business itself breaks down. Partition can separate the real estate even when the operating or shareholder agreement is silent about it.
• Siblings and Heirs Who Inherited Real Estate: Property passed down to several children frequently becomes a tenancy in common. One heir wants to sell, another wants to live there or keep it in the family, and a third has stopped paying. Florida has a separate statutory framework for heirs property that changes how these cases proceed.
• Unmarried Couples Who Bought a Home Together: Without a marriage, there is no divorce court to divide the house. Partition is often the route when the relationship ends and neither side will buy out or sell to the other.
• Investors in a Shared Real Estate Deal: Co-investors who bought a rental, development parcel, or commercial property may disagree about holding, selling, or refinancing. An owner who wants liquidity can ask the court to order a sale.
• Co-Owners Who Stop Paying Their Share: When one owner stops covering the mortgage, taxes, insurance, or repairs, the others carry the burden. Those contributions can become part of the accounting the court considers when dividing proceeds.
• Co-Owner Occupying or Collecting Rent: One owner who lives in the property or keeps the rental income can face claims from the others. These claims are often resolved alongside the partition.
• Competing Ownership Claims and Title Clouds: A partition case sometimes reveals a defect in the chain of title or a rival claim. In that case a related quiet title action may be needed to clear the record before property can be divided or sold.
• Entity-Owned Property After a Business Divorce: When a company holds the real estate, the dispute may belong in a judicial dissolution or member dispute rather than a partition. Choosing the right vehicle at the start saves months.

How a Florida Partition Case Actually Moves

All partition actions in Florida are filed in circuit court sitting in equity. The complaint has to describe the land, name the owners and where they live, state what share each holds, and include whatever else the court needs to decide the parties’ rights. Getting those details right early matters, because errors in ownership percentages or missing parties slow the case and can invite challenges later.

Once the court enters a judgment of partition, it appoints three commissioners to evaluate the property, chosen by the court unless the parties agree on them. The commissioners report on whether the land can be divided fairly. If they conclude that division would harm the owners and the court agrees, the court may order the property sold at public auction to the highest bidder and divide the proceeds in proportion to each owner’s interest. A court can also allow a sale on credit for good cause, but at least one-third of the purchase price must be paid up front unless every party consents to different terms.

Heirs property gets different treatment. Florida’s Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act applies to partition actions filed on or after July 1, 2020. It covers real property held as tenants in common with no binding agreement among the co-owners governing partition, where at least one owner took title from a relative and another listed condition applies, such as relatives holding twenty percent or more of the interests. When the property qualifies, the court must follow that framework unless all cotenants agree otherwise in a record. The statute also limits partition in kind: the court may not order it unless it is satisfied that the commissioners weighed the statutory factors and found that dividing the property would prejudice the cotenants as a group. For families, this can reshape the whole strategy, including whether a buyout among relatives is more realistic than an auction.

What to Do If You Co-Own Property and Cannot Agree

Start by pulling the paper trail. Gather the deed, closing statement, mortgage documents, tax bills, insurance policies, and any written agreement among the owners, including an operating agreement if an entity is involved. Record who has paid what, who lives in or uses the property, and who collects rent. These details drive the accounting between owners, and they are far easier to document now than to reconstruct after a fight begins.

Next, find out what the title actually says. Whether you hold as tenants in common, whether a spouse or relative is on the deed, and whether any liens or competing claims exist will shape your options. If the record is unclear, a quiet title action may be needed. Florida courts can cancel a conveyance or other evidence of title that clouds ownership, and a plaintiff generally has to trace title back at least seven years unless the court orders otherwise. That action can be filed in any county where part of the land sits.

Avoid the common mistakes. Do not change locks, stop paying carrying costs out of anger, or move into the property to gain leverage without advice first. Do not assume that years of exclusive use gives you ownership; adverse possession in Florida requires seven years of actual, continuous possession under a claim of title exclusive of others, with strict filing requirements. Each of those moves can backfire in an equitable proceeding where the judge is weighing fairness.

Cases for property in Palm Beach County are filed in the Circuit Court of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, which sits in and for Palm Beach County and has its main civil court in West Palm Beach. Property in Broward County falls under the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, which sits in Fort Lauderdale and operates regional courthouses elsewhere in the county. Partition is an equity matter, so it belongs in circuit court regardless of the property’s value. Call our Palm Beach real estate litigation lawyers early, since many co-owner disputes settle once the realistic options and costs are laid out.

Partition, Dissolution, and Buyouts: Choosing the Right Remedy

Not every co-ownership fight is a partition case. If the property sits inside an LLC or corporation, the real dispute is usually among the owners of the company. For an LLC, a circuit court may order dissolution on grounds that include deadlock that cannot be broken and threatens irreparable injury, assets being misappropriated or wasted, or the impracticability of operating under the operating agreement. The court can appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing, or order a buyout of the petitioning member’s interest. If the operating agreement contains a deadlock sale provision that is started before the court finds deadlock grounds, that provision governs instead.

For corporations, shareholders can seek judicial dissolution on statutory grounds, and the corporation or the 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 after the first election is filed, the court enters an order directing that purchase, and an election to buy is irrevocable unless the court finds it equitable to modify it. Courts can also issue injunctions and preserve assets while the case is pending.

The right path depends on who actually holds title, what the governing documents say, and what the client wants at the end: the property, the cash, or a clean break. A buyout negotiated in mediation often beats a forced auction on price and cost, while a sale ordered by the court can be the only way to free an owner whose co-owner will not cooperate. Sorting out which tool fits is where much of the early legal work goes.

Palm Beach Partition Action Questions Answered

What is a partition action in Florida?

It is a court case asking a judge to divide jointly owned real estate or, when a fair division is not practical, to order it sold and split the proceeds among the owners according to their shares.

Can one co-owner force a sale if the others refuse?

Generally, yes. A co-owner usually has the right to seek partition even over the objection of the others. Heirs property gets added statutory protections that can shape how the court proceeds, and an agreement among the owners may change the picture.

Who decides whether the property is divided or sold?

The court does, with help from three commissioners it appoints to evaluate the property. If the commissioners report that division would harm the owners and the court agrees, the court can order a public auction.

Is a partition case filed in county court or circuit court?

Circuit court. Partition actions are equity cases and belong in the circuit court. For Palm Beach County property that is the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, and for Broward County property it is the Seventeenth.

What does the complaint have to include?

It must describe the land, name the owners and where they live, state the share each one holds, and add anything else the court needs to rule on the parties’ rights.

What counts as heirs property, and why does it matter?

It is real property held as tenants in common with no binding agreement among all cotenants about partition, where at least one cotenant got title from a relative and another statutory condition applies, such as relatives holding twenty percent or more of the interests. It matters because the court must use the heirs property framework, which limits when the property can be divided in kind versus sold.

Can I recover what I paid for the mortgage, taxes, and repairs?

Often these contributions are considered when the court sorts out the owners’ accounts and the division of proceeds. Keep every receipt, bank record, and tax payment, because documentation decides these claims.

My co-owner lives in the property and collects rent. Do I have any claim?

Possibly. An owner who keeps rental income or uses the property exclusively can face claims from the other owners, usually resolved as part of the partition case. The facts, including any agreement between you, control the outcome.

Does living in the property for years give me ownership?

Not automatically. Florida adverse possession requires seven years of actual, continuous possession under a claim of title exclusive of others, along with statutory filing requirements, and possession by a co-owner is treated very differently from possession by a stranger.

What if our property is owned through an LLC or corporation?

Then the dispute may belong in a judicial dissolution or buyout proceeding instead of a partition. Courts can order dissolution or a purchase of one owner’s interest on specific statutory grounds, and some operating or shareholder agreements contain deadlock sale provisions that take priority.

I live in New York or New Jersey. Do I have to come to Palm Beach County for the case?

No. The firm regularly represents clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with South Florida property, handles the local court appearances, and keeps you informed at each stage.

Can a partition case settle before auction?

Yes, and many do. Owners often reach a buyout, an agreed sale, or a division of the property through negotiation or mediation once they see what the court process would cost them.

Serving Co-Owners and Investors Across Palm Beach County

We represent co-owners across Palm Beach County, from West Palm Beach and Palm Beach to Lake Worth Beach, Boynton Beach, and Delray Beach. Our clients also come from Boca Raton, Highland Beach, and Royal Palm Beach, as well as Wellington, Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens, and North Palm Beach. We handle property disputes in Riviera Beach, Greenacres, Lantana, Belle Glade, and the western communities of the county.

Our work extends south into Broward County, including Fort Lauderdale, Deerfield Beach, Pompano Beach, Coral Springs, Hollywood, and Plantation, and we represent clients across South Florida whose co-owners or properties are here. Many of those clients live in New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut and rely on us to handle the local proceedings for their Florida real estate interests.

Talk With a Palm Beach Partition Attorney About Your Co-Owned Property

If you share title with someone you can no longer work with, the sooner you understand your options, the more leverage you keep. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can review your deed, your agreements, and your goals and tell you whether partition, a buyout, a quiet title action, or a dissolution is the right route. Call to speak with our team about your case and learn how a Palm Beach partition attorney can help you reach a resolution that makes sense for you and your budget.