Palm Beach Real Estate Attorney

Whether you co-own a building in West Palm Beach, hold a contract on a commercial parcel near Palm Beach Gardens, or share title to a family property with relatives who no longer agree with you, the next move you make usually decides how much room you have later. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team is a business and real estate litigation firm serving Palm Beach County and neighboring Broward County, and a Palm Beach real estate attorney at the firm handles the transactions that need careful drafting and the disputes that end up in court.

Most of what we see falls into a few buckets: a purchase contract that one side will not close on, co-owners who cannot agree whether to keep or sell, a cloud on title that blocks a sale or refinance, or a tenant and landlord who are past talking. Each of these runs on its own deadlines and its own set of Florida statutes, and a few of those deadlines are short enough that waiting a season can cost you the claim.

Real estate disputes also rarely stay purely about real estate. A shared property is often the last asset still tied to a failed business, a family inheritance, or a relationship that ended. Part of what we do is figure out which of those threads actually controls the outcome and build the case around it.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for Palm Beach Real Estate Matters

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents business owners, investors, and families in real estate and business disputes across Palm Beach County and Broward County, including West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, and Fort Lauderdale. Founder Andrew M. Schwartz has spent 37 years in litigation and was 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. His practice has centered on complex contract disputes and conflicts among co-owners, which is exactly the terrain most real estate cases sit on.

Senior Counsel Sundeep Nath, a Northwestern-trained litigator, brings years of experience in business and real estate cases in both state and federal courts. The firm works as a true legal team, so whoever picks up your call already knows your file. We keep a strict 24 hour return call policy when we are in court or otherwise unavailable, and we schedule conference calls around the people involved rather than the other way around.

The results matter more than the résumé. After a five-day bench trial, a Broward County circuit judge entered a 32-page final judgment awarding our client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. That is a contract-enforcement win built on the exact wording of the agreement and the parties’ dealings, which is how most contested closings are actually decided.

We also take referrals from other attorneys, including out of state lawyers whose clients own Florida property, and we represent clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who hold real estate here and want a Florida litigator to handle the local court appearances. Our attorneys are experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as courtroom litigation, and we look for the resolution that fits the client’s goals and budget.

Real Estate Disputes and Transactions We Handle in Palm Beach County

• Failed Closings and Purchase Contract Disputes: A buyer who will not close, a seller who tries to walk away for a better offer, or a disagreement over deposits, inspection periods, and financing contingencies. Depending on the facts, remedies include damages or a court order forcing the sale to go through.
• Specific Performance Actions: When money damages will not make you whole because the property is unique, Florida courts can order the other side to perform. These claims carry a short one-year limitations period, so the clock matters.
• Partition Actions: Co-owners who cannot agree can ask the circuit court to divide the property or, when division is not practical, order a sale and split the proceeds. Common among former business partners, siblings who inherited together, unmarried couples, and investors who want out.
• Quiet Title and Title Disputes: Competing ownership claims, a recorded instrument that clouds title, or a need to separate yourself from title to a property. These are filed in the county where the land sits, and the plaintiff generally must trace title back at least seven years.
• Adverse Possession Claims: Both sides of these disputes come to us, either the owner defending against a claim or the possessor asserting one. The statute requires seven years of qualifying possession plus specific filing steps with the property appraiser.
• Commercial and Residential Landlord-Tenant Disputes: Nonpayment, lease violations, termination notices, and the notice periods Florida law attaches to each, including a three-day demand for unpaid rent and a seven-day notice for curable violations.
• Injunctions Affecting Property: Emergency relief to stop a sale, a transfer, or the removal of assets while a dispute is pending, including temporary and permanent injunctions.
• Real Estate Transactions: Commercial and residential purchase and sale work, where a careful contract up front is cheaper than litigating it later.

What to Do When a Palm Beach Property Dispute Starts

Start by gathering paper before you do anything else. Pull the purchase contract and every amendment, the deed, any recorded instruments, the operating agreement if an LLC owns the property, the lease, and every email or text where terms were discussed or changed. Disputes over real estate are usually decided on documents, and the file you assemble in the first week is often the file that wins or loses the case.

Next, identify which clock you are on. A written contract claim in Florida generally carries five years, an oral or implied contract claim four years, a fraud claim four years from discovery, and a negligence claim two years for causes of action arising after the March 2023 change. The outlier is specific performance, which must be brought within one year. If you want the court to force a closing rather than award money, waiting to see whether the other side comes around can quietly end your right to that remedy. The one-year and two-year deadlines are where people get hurt, so have the dates checked early.

Do not take unilateral action that hands the other side an argument. Changing locks, withholding rent without following the statutory notice process, recording documents you are unsure about, or accepting partial rent without handling it properly can convert a strong position into a weak one. In a landlord-tenant case, for example, a landlord who accepts partial rent after posting a nonpayment notice must give a receipt noting the balance and date, post a new notice, or deposit the partial payment in the court registry when filing; taking the money without doing one of those things creates problems. Written notices also have to follow the statute’s timing and delivery rules.

On the court side, real estate cases above the county court cap are filed in the Circuit Court of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, which sits in and for Palm Beach County, with its main civil courthouse in West Palm Beach. Cases that are smaller go to county civil court, and eviction-type matters follow their own summary track. A quiet title complaint can be filed in any county where part of the land lies, and partition actions proceed in the chancery side of the circuit court. Some disputes also belong in federal court, where the Southern District of Florida holds court in West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale. If the property is across the county line, the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit handles Broward County cases, and its complex business division takes on large business and construction litigation.

Finally, call a lawyer before you answer the other side’s demand letter. Early on, an attorney can often resolve things with a well-framed response, a standstill agreement, or a short mediation, and when that fails, the early work usually positions you better for emergency relief if assets or title are at risk.

How Partition and Title Cases Actually Unfold

Partition surprises people because the outcome is rarely the one they expected. The complaint has to describe the land, name each owner and where they live, and state each owner’s share. If the court grants partition, it appoints three commissioners to decide whether the property can be divided fairly. If they report that division would prejudice the owners, the court can order a sale at public auction and split the proceeds in proportion to ownership. A sale on credit requires good cause, and at least one-third of the price has to be paid at the outset unless everyone agrees otherwise. Because a court-ordered auction often brings less than a negotiated sale, many co-owners are better served by a buyout or a private sale worked out during the case.

Florida also has special rules for heirs property. If the property is held as tenants in common, at least one co-owner got title from a relative, and a qualifying condition applies (for example, twenty percent or more of the interests held by relatives), the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act governs. Partition in kind is only entered if the commissioners considered the statutory factors and found that dividing the land would prejudice the owners as a group. For families who inherited a house together, that framework can change both strategy and leverage.

Quiet title cases are about clearing a cloud. A person claiming title can ask the court to cancel a conveyance or other instrument held by someone who is not the rightful owner, and to enter judgment resolving who owns the land. Where the claim rests on an allegedly fraudulent attempted conveyance, Florida provides a summary procedure and the court is directed to move the case up on its calendar. Adverse possession is the other side of the coin: without color of title, a claimant must show seven years of actual, continuous, exclusive possession under a claim of title, and must file a return with a full legal description. With color of title, the instrument has to be recorded in the county where the property sits.

When co-owners are also business partners, the property question and the company question usually have to be solved together. If an LLC owns the real estate, a court can dissolve the company on grounds like deadlock that threatens irreparable injury, misappropriation of assets, or the impracticability of carrying on under the operating agreement, and it can appoint a receiver or order a buyout instead. If the LLC’s operating agreement contains a deadlock sale provision initiated in time, that provision can control. Reading the governing documents first often reveals options the owners did not know they had.

Palm Beach Real Estate Attorney FAQs

How long do I have to sue over a breach of a real estate purchase contract?

A claim on a written contract generally has a five-year limitations period in Florida, while an oral or implied contract claim has four years. If what you want is an order forcing the other side to close, that remedy has a one-year period. Because the periods differ by remedy, the safest course is to have an attorney identify which clock applies as soon as the closing falls apart.

Can I force a seller to go through with the sale?

Often, yes. Real property is treated as unique, so Florida courts can order specific performance when a valid contract exists and the buyer was ready to perform. These cases turn on the exact contract language, the timing of notices, and the conduct of both sides. We have obtained a judgment of this kind after a bench trial in Broward County.

What is the difference between partition and quiet title?

Partition divides or sells property among co-owners who all have a legitimate ownership interest but disagree about what to do. Quiet title resolves who actually owns the property or removes a competing claim or cloud on title. They sometimes overlap, but they solve different problems.

Can one co-owner force the sale of a property in Palm Beach County?

A co-owner generally can ask the court for partition, and if the property cannot be divided fairly, the court can order it sold and the proceeds shared in proportion to ownership. How a court handles a particular case depends on the type of title and whether the heirs property rules apply.

What counts as heirs property in Florida?

It is property held as tenants in common with no binding agreement among the cotenants about partition, where at least one cotenant got title from a relative and a further statutory condition is met, such as relatives holding twenty percent or more of the interests. If a court finds heirs property, the special partition procedures apply unless every cotenant agrees otherwise in writing.

My partner owns a property with me through an LLC and we are deadlocked. What can I do?

Start with the operating agreement, since a deadlock sale provision or buyout mechanism may already exist. If not, a court can dissolve an LLC on grounds like deadlock threatening irreparable injury, and it can appoint a receiver or order a buyout instead of dissolution. The right path depends on what the documents say and what the other owner is doing.

How much notice does a landlord have to give before ending a tenancy in Florida?

For unpaid rent, a landlord must deliver a written demand and wait three days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and court-observed legal holidays, before terminating. For curable lease violations, the notice gives the tenant seven days to fix the problem. For violations that cannot be cured, the landlord can give a seven-day notice to vacate. Details of how the notice is delivered and worded matter.

If a landlord accepts partial rent, does that waive the right to evict?

No, accepting partial rent does not waive the right to terminate or sue, but the landlord has to handle it correctly: issue a receipt showing the date, amount, and remaining balance, deposit the money in the court registry when filing, or serve a new notice reflecting the updated amount. Skipping these steps can undermine the case.

I live out of state but own property in Palm Beach County. Do I have to come to court?

Not for every hearing. We regularly represent clients in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with Florida real estate, handle the local appearances, and keep you updated by phone and conference call so you can make decisions without traveling.

Is it worth hiring a lawyer for a smaller property dispute?

Often it is, because the real cost is usually title, a sale, or a lease, not just the dollar figure in the demand letter. Smaller disputes can sometimes be resolved with a demand letter, mediation, or a negotiated buyout rather than a full lawsuit, and we aim for the path that fits your budget.

Can I get emergency relief if a co-owner is trying to sell or transfer the property?

Possibly. Courts can issue temporary injunctions to preserve property and assets while a dispute is pending. These applications move quickly and require prompt evidence, so contact an attorney as soon as you learn of the attempted transfer.

Serving Real Estate Clients Across Palm Beach County and Beyond

We represent property owners, investors, and families throughout Palm Beach County, from West Palm Beach and Palm Beach Gardens through Lake Worth Beach, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, and Boca Raton. Our clients also come from Jupiter, Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, Greenacres, Riviera Beach, North Palm Beach, and Palm Beach Shores, as well as from Belle Glade and the communities of western Palm Beach County. We handle partition actions, title disputes, contract litigation, and landlord-tenant matters for owners in all of these places.

The firm also serves neighboring Broward County, including Fort Lauderdale, Deerfield Beach, Pompano Beach, Coral Springs, and the surrounding communities. Many clients own property across both counties, and we regularly work on matters that cross the county line. We also represent clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who hold real estate in South Florida and need a local litigator handling the court side of their case.

Talk to a Palm Beach Real Estate Attorney Before the Deadline Decides for You

If a closing has fallen apart, a co-owner has stopped cooperating, or title to your property is in question, the sooner a Palm Beach real estate attorney reviews your documents, the more options you will have. Call the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team to discuss your situation. We will tell you plainly which deadlines apply, what the realistic paths look like, and what each is likely to cost, and we will answer your calls within one business day.