Parkland Partition Action Attorney

Co-owning a Parkland home or parcel with someone you can no longer work with leaves you with a real decision: keep waiting, buy the other owner out, or ask a judge to end the co-ownership. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team handles business and real estate litigation for owners in Parkland and across Broward County and Palm Beach County, and a Parkland partition action attorney can tell you which of those paths fits your situation.

A partition case is a lawsuit that forces a decision on jointly held real estate. Either the court divides the property between the owners, or it orders the property sold and splits the money by ownership share. Partition tends to land hard because the owners are often tied together by something other than the property: a former business partnership, an inherited family home, an investment that went sideways, or a relationship that ended. One owner wants out, another wants to stay, and nobody can agree on a price.

Waiting rarely helps. Carrying costs, taxes, insurance, and repairs keep accumulating, and the owner who pays them often has no easy way to recover the money from a co-owner who stopped contributing. The sooner the ownership picture is mapped out, the more leverage you have in any negotiation.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for a Partition Case

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents business owners, investors, and families in South Florida’s difficult business and real estate disputes, serving clients in Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and throughout Palm Beach County and Broward County, including Parkland. Partition actions sit at the intersection of the firm’s two main areas of focus, real estate litigation and disputes between co-owners, and the firm regularly represents former business partners, siblings who inherited property together, unmarried couples, and investors who want out of a shared investment. The firm also handles title disputes and quiet title actions when competing claims of ownership need to be cleared up.

Founder Andrew M. He earned his undergraduate degree from Emory University in 1986 and his law degree from the University of Miami in 1989. His career has centered on contract disputes, business divorces, and conflicts among partners, LLC members, and shareholders, which is useful because many partition cases are really the last chapter of a failed business relationship. Senior Counsel Sundeep Nath, a Northwestern-trained litigator, brings years of experience in business and real estate cases in state and federal courts.

The firm works as a true legal team, so everyone on your matter knows the file, and it keeps a strict 24 hour return call policy. In a recent matter, after a five-day bench trial in Broward County Circuit Court, the firm obtained a 32-page final judgment awarding its client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. The firm is also experienced in mediation and arbitration, and it looks for the resolution that fits a client’s goals and budget instead of stretching a case out. For clients who live in New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut but own a share of South Florida property, the firm handles the local court appearances so you do not have to travel for every hearing.

Situations That Lead to Partition of Parkland Property

• Former Business Partners Holding Real Estate: When a company or investment group bought property together and the relationship collapsed, partition may be the cleanest way to unwind the real estate side of a business divorce, particularly when an operating agreement says nothing about how the property should be handled.
• Inherited Homes Among Siblings or Relatives: Parents leave a house to several children, one lives in it, another wants cash, and a third stopped answering calls. Florida has a separate set of rules for this setting, the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act, which applies when the property qualifies as heirs property and gives relatives extra protections before a forced sale.
• Unmarried Couples Who Bought Together: Both names are on the deed, the relationship ended, and neither will buy the other out. With no divorce court to divide assets, partition is often the legal route to resolution.
• Investment Property Partners Who Want Out: One investor wants to sell while another wants to hold. Partition gives a way out when the co-owners have no agreement governing how or when to exit.
• Co-Owners Who Stopped Paying Their Share: When one owner covers the mortgage, taxes, insurance, and repairs alone, the case often includes questions about contribution and credit for those payments when the proceeds are divided.
• Title Problems Surfacing Mid-Case: Partition assumes everyone agrees who owns what. When shares are contested, a deed is questioned, or a stranger claims an interest, a quiet title claim may need to be resolved alongside or before the partition itself.
• Spouses, In-Laws, and Family Business Owners: Real estate held by family members who also run a company together carries emotional weight that ordinary commercial disputes do not, and these cases call for discretion alongside firm protection of your financial interest.

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

Start by collecting the paper trail. Pull the deed, any closing documents, mortgage statements, tax bills, insurance policies, and records of who paid for what. If the property is tied to a business, gather the operating agreement, shareholder agreement, or partnership agreement, because those documents may already dictate how the property gets handled and could change whether partition is even the right tool.

Next, find out exactly how title is held. Partition covers co-owners, but how the deed reads matters. Whether the owners hold as tenants in common, whether a spouse has rights, whether a trust or entity is involved, and whether a mortgage names only some of the owners are all questions that affect strategy. If you suspect the title itself is clouded, raise that early.

Be careful about what you say and do in the meantime. Do not change locks, move out another owner’s belongings, or sell your own share without understanding the consequences. If you are living in the property, keep paying the carrying costs and keep receipts. If you are out of state, stay on top of correspondence from the other owners and from any lender.

If settlement is possible, a written buyout offer with a clear valuation process is often the fastest path, and an attorney can help structure it. If not, the case is filed in the circuit court for the county where the land sits. Parkland is in Broward County, so that is the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, sitting in and for Broward County. The Broward courts also operate a complex business division that handles certain business entity dissolutions and larger business disputes, which can matter when a partition grows out of a broader company fight. If your property sits in neighboring Palm Beach County, the case belongs in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit instead. A complaint can be brought in any county where part of the land lies.

If the property is at risk while the case is pending, for instance if a co-owner is stripping the property, encumbering it, or refusing to pay taxes, ask about emergency relief. The firm handles temporary and permanent injunctions for exactly this purpose.

How a Florida Partition Case Moves Through Court

Partition actions are equitable proceedings under Chapter 64 of the Florida Statutes. The complaint has to describe the land, name each owner and where they live, state the share each one holds, and include whatever else the court needs to sort out the parties’ rights. That makes the early work important: if the ownership picture is wrong at the start, everything built on it is shaky.

Once the court decides the parties are entitled to partition, it appoints three commissioners to look at the property, chosen by the court unless the parties agree on them. Their job is to determine whether the land can be divided fairly. A vacant tract might be split into parcels. A single-family home in Parkland almost never can be, because dividing a house does not create two houses.

When the commissioners report that division cannot be done without prejudice to the owners, and the court agrees, the court may order the property sold at public auction to the highest bidder, with proceeds divided according to each owner’s interest. The court can allow a sale on reasonable credit for good cause, but at least one-third of the purchase money must be paid down unless every party consents to different terms. Practically, many partition cases settle before it gets that far, often through a negotiated sale on the open market or a buyout, because a court-ordered auction rarely produces the best price.

If the property qualifies as heirs property, the rules change. Heirs property is real estate held as tenants in common, with no binding agreement among the co-owners governing partition, where at least one owner acquired title from a relative and one of the statute’s further conditions is met, such as twenty percent or more of the interests being held by cotenants who are relatives. In those cases the court must follow the heirs property procedure unless every co-owner agrees otherwise in a record, and a partition in kind is not entered unless the commissioners have weighed the statutory factors and concluded that in-kind division would prejudice the cotenants as a group. These protections exist to keep family land from being forced to auction when other options are available.

When a Partition Case Is Really a Partnership or Dissolution Case

Many partition disputes are the property-level echo of a larger problem inside a company. If the real estate is owned by an LLC or corporation, you may not be a co-owner of the land at all; you may be a member or shareholder of an entity that owns it, and the remedy may be dissolution or a buyout rather than partition.

For an LLC, Florida’s statute allows a member or manager to seek judicial dissolution on grounds that include deadlock between managers or members that cannot be broken and threatens irreparable injury to the company, misappropriation or waste of assets, and conduct that makes it not reasonably practicable to carry on the business under the operating agreement. In those proceedings the court can appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing, or order a purchase of the petitioning member’s interest. If the operating agreement contains a deadlock sale provision that was properly initiated before the court found grounds for dissolution, that provision can control instead.

For corporations, a shareholder can petition for dissolution on specified grounds, and the corporation or the other shareholders can respond by electing to buy the petitioner’s shares at fair value. If the parties agree on value and terms within 60 days after the first election is filed, the court enters an order on those terms. The court can also issue injunctions and appoint a receiver or custodian to preserve assets while the case is pending.

The point is that choosing the wrong vehicle costs time and money. Part of the first conversation with counsel is working out whether you need partition, dissolution, a quiet title claim, a claim for missing funds, or some combination.

Parkland Partition Action FAQs

What is a partition action in Florida?

It is a lawsuit asking a court to end co-ownership of real property. The court either divides the property among the owners or, when division is not practical, orders it sold and distributes the proceeds in proportion to each owner’s interest.

Can I force a co-owner to sell our Parkland property?

Generally, a co-owner of real property has the right to ask the court for partition, even over the objection of the others. Whether partition is the right remedy depends on how title is held and whether any agreement among the owners limits the right.

Which court handles a partition case for Parkland property?

Partition actions are heard in the circuit court, in chancery. For land in Parkland, that is the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, sitting in and for Broward County. A complaint may be filed in any county where some part of the land is located.

Will the court actually divide a house?

Rarely. A single home cannot normally be split fairly, so when commissioners conclude division would prejudice the owners, the court can order a sale and divide the proceeds. Many owners agree to a sale or buyout well before that point.

What is a heirs property partition, and why does it matter?

It is a separate framework under Florida’s Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act for tenancy-in-common property that came from relatives and meets the statute’s conditions. It adds procedural protections before a forced sale and favors in-kind division or buyouts where the facts support them.

What happens to the mortgage if the property is sold in partition?

Liens and mortgages are generally dealt with out of the sale proceeds before the remainder is distributed. The details depend on who is on the loan and how the liens are structured, which is why a title review comes early.

Can one owner get credit for paying more than their share of taxes, insurance, and repairs?

Often that is a significant part of the case. Owners who carried the property can raise claims for contribution or credit when proceeds are divided. Keeping receipts and payment records makes those claims much easier to prove.

How long does a partition case take?

It depends on whether the owners agree on the basics, whether title is contested, and how busy the assigned judge’s docket is. A cooperative case can resolve through a negotiated sale; a contested case with title issues, valuation fights, and appointed commissioners takes considerably longer.

Is partition the same as a quiet title action?

No. Partition assumes the owners are known and ends their co-ownership. A quiet title action resolves competing claims about who owns the property or removes a cloud on title. They sometimes appear in the same dispute, and quiet title plaintiffs generally must trace their title back at least seven years unless the court orders otherwise.

Is there a deadline to file a partition action?

Partition itself is not governed by a single short filing deadline in the way a contract claim is, but related claims are. A written-contract claim generally carries a five-year limitations period, an oral-contract claim four years, and a specific performance claim one year, and a claim to recover real property can be barred unless the plaintiff or a predecessor was in possession within seven years. If a business agreement or a possession dispute sits behind your co-ownership, those clocks may already be running.

Does a partition action have to be litigated to the end?

No. Many are resolved through negotiation, mediation, or a buyout. The firm has experience in mediation and arbitration as well as courtroom litigation and pursues the route most likely to meet your goals efficiently.

I live out of state. Can I still bring or defend a partition case?

Yes. The firm regularly represents clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who own business or real estate interests in South Florida, handles the local proceedings, and keeps clients informed at each stage.

Serving Parkland Partition Clients Across Broward and Palm Beach Counties

For Parkland owners, the firm’s work starts in northwest Broward County and extends outward from there. From the neighborhoods of Parkland and the neighboring communities of Coral Springs, Coconut Creek, Margate, and Tamarac, to Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Sunrise, Plantation, and Fort Lauderdale, the team represents co-owners who need to resolve shared real estate. Clients in Davie, Weston, Pembroke Pines, Hollywood, and the rest of Broward County also turn to the firm for partition and title disputes.

The firm’s reach continues north into Palm Beach County, including Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Lake Worth, West Palm Beach, and Palm Beach Gardens. Whether the property is a family home, a rental, a commercial parcel, or land held with a former business partner, the work is the same: understand the ownership, protect your financial position, and find the most practical way out of a shared ownership that is no longer working. The firm also serves clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with property or business interests anywhere in this South Florida region.

Talk With a Parkland Partition Attorney About Ending Co-Ownership

If you share title to Parkland property and cannot agree on what comes next, the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can review your deed, your agreements, and your options, and tell you plainly whether partition, a buyout, dissolution, or a title action makes the most sense. Call to schedule a consultation with a Parkland partition attorney, and get a clear plan before the carrying costs and the disagreement grow any larger.