Parkland Real Estate Title Dispute Attorney

Title fights in Parkland are usually filed in Broward County, and because a quiet title action can be brought in any county where part of the land sits, the case follows the property rather than the owner’s mailing address. That matters in a city where many homeowners, trust beneficiaries, and investors live part of the year in New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team handles business and real estate litigation for clients in Parkland, Broward County, and Palm Beach County, and a Parkland real estate title dispute attorney from the firm can step in when ownership of a home, lot, or investment parcel is clouded, contested, or shared with someone who will not cooperate.

Title disputes come in several forms, and the remedy depends on which one you have. A competing deed, an old recorded conveyance that no one released, a co-owner who stopped paying and stopped answering, a boundary claim from a neighbor who has used part of your land, or a transfer that was never legitimate can each call for a different action. Some cases are about clearing a cloud so a sale or refinance can close. Others are about getting out of a co-ownership that has turned adversarial. A few are about stopping a transfer before it happens.

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’s difficult business and real estate disputes, including title disputes, quiet title actions, and partition cases. Andrew M. He earned his undergraduate degree from Emory University in 1986 and his law degree from the University of Miami in 1989. Senior Counsel Sundeep Nath, a Northwestern-trained litigator, brings years of business and real estate experience in both state and federal courts.

The firm practices as a true legal team, meaning everyone working on a file knows it and can answer when you call. There is a strict 24 hour return call policy when the attorneys are in court. For clients who live out of state, the firm handles the local court appearances so they do not have to travel for every hearing.

Title cases often turn on documents and on the parties’ history with the property, which is the kind of work that has defined this practice. In a recent matter, after a five-day bench trial, the Broward County Circuit Court issued a 32-page final judgment awarding the firm’s client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. Not every title case goes to trial, and the firm is experienced in mediation and arbitration as well. The goal is the resolution that fits the client’s objectives and budget, not a longer case for its own sake. Many matters also reach the firm through referrals from other attorneys, including out of state lawyers whose clients own Florida property.

Types of Title and Ownership Disputes We Handle

• Quiet Title Actions: Florida law gives the circuit court authority to determine competing claims to land and to cancel a conveyance or other recorded evidence of title held by someone who is not the rightful owner. A plaintiff generally has to trace title back at least seven years before filing unless the court orders otherwise.
• Partition of Jointly Owned Property: When co-owners cannot agree to keep, sell, or divide a property, any of them can ask the court to partition it. This comes up with former business partners, unmarried couples, and investors who want out of a shared purchase.
• Heirs Property and Inherited Real Estate: Siblings and relatives who inherit a home together often hold it as tenants in common with no written agreement. Florida has a separate statutory framework for heirs property that changes how partition proceeds, including how the court evaluates whether a division in kind would harm the cotenants as a group.
• Fraudulent or Forged Transfers: A deed signed under false pretenses, or a transfer attempted to strip a co-owner or creditor of an interest, can be challenged through a quiet title action. Florida provides a summary procedure and calendar priority for these cases.
• Adverse Possession and Boundary Claims: A person who has openly occupied land for seven years under a claim of title may assert ownership. The statute requires specific steps, including a filed return with a legal description, and the rules differ depending on whether the claim rests on color of title.
• Failed Closings and Contract Title Defects: When a sale collapses over a title problem or a party refuses to close, the buyer’s remedy may be specific performance. Florida allows that action only within one year, which makes timing critical.
• Business Partner Property Disputes: A property held by an LLC or by partners individually can become the center of a business divorce, especially when one owner has moved assets or refused to account for rents and proceeds.

What to Do When Your Parkland Property Title Is Contested

Start by collecting the documents that tell the ownership story: the deed or deeds in your chain, the closing statement, any trust or estate paperwork, the mortgage and satisfaction records, surveys, and any correspondence in which the other party asserted a claim. Then pull the recorded history from the Official Records of the county where the property sits. For Parkland, that is Broward County. A title company or attorney can search that record for liens, lis pendens notices, and competing instruments you may not know about.

Next, identify which clock is running. Florida’s limitations periods vary by claim. A legal or equitable action on a written instrument carries five years. An oral or implied contract claim has four years. Rescission has four years, and fraud has four years from discovery, capped at twelve. Specific performance of a contract has just one year. A suit to recover real property is barred unless you or a predecessor held possession within the prior seven years. These periods are not interchangeable, and a single dispute can involve more than one of them, so the earliest deadline should drive your timing. Negligence claims, such as some professional malpractice claims against closing professionals, are subject to a two-year period.

If you share ownership and need to prevent a sale, a transfer, or the spending of rent or proceeds, say so early, because a court can issue temporary injunctive relief to preserve the property while the case is pending. Do not sign a new deed, quitclaim, or settlement paperwork presented by the other side without review, and do not stop paying taxes, insurance, or the mortgage out of frustration, since those lapses can create new claims against you.

Circuit-level cases for land in Parkland are heard by the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit sitting in and for Broward County. Real property title and partition matters belong in circuit court. Where a business entity is one of the owners, the Seventeenth Circuit also maintains complex business divisions for certain large business disputes, and a case can be placed there only by following the circuit’s administrative procedure. If your property is held jointly with an owner in Palm Beach County, or the land spans both counties, the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit sitting in and for Palm Beach County may be the proper forum for part of the dispute, and federal court in the Southern District of Florida can come into play when the parties are from different states and the amount at stake qualifies.

How Partition Works When Co-Owners Cannot Agree

A partition complaint must describe the land, name every owner and where they live, and state what share each holds. After judgment, the court appoints three commissioners, chosen by the court unless the parties agree on them, who determine whether the property can be divided fairly. If they report that division would prejudice the owners, the court may order the property sold at public auction to the highest bidder and split the proceeds by ownership share. A court can allow a sale on reasonable credit for good cause, but at least one-third of the purchase price must be paid down unless every party agrees otherwise.

Heirs property follows different rules. If the property is held as tenants in common, there is no binding agreement among the cotenants about partition, at least one cotenant took title from a relative, and a further statutory condition is met, such as relatives holding twenty percent or more of the interests, the court must apply the heirs property procedures unless all cotenants agree otherwise. Under those rules, a partition in kind is not ordered unless the court is satisfied the commissioners weighed the statutory factors and found that dividing the land would harm the cotenants as a group. In practice, this gives family members who want to keep a property more protection than the older auction-oriented process did.

Many partition cases settle before auction. A co-owner buyout, an agreed listing, or a negotiated division can keep more value in the family or the investment than a forced sale. Our team looks at those paths first when they serve the client.

Quiet Title, Adverse Possession, and Clouds on Title

A quiet title action asks the court to declare who owns the property and to remove competing claims from the record. The statute allows the complaint to be filed in any county where some part of the land lies, and where the claim is based on an alleged fraudulent attempted conveyance, the petitioner is entitled to a summary procedure and the court is directed to advance the case. Plaintiffs should be prepared to show their chain of title for at least seven years back.

Adverse possession is narrower than most people think. Without color of title, the claimant must show actual, continued possession for seven years under a claim of title exclusive of any other right, and must file the required return with a full legal description sufficient for the property appraiser to identify the land. With color of title, possession must still be continuous for seven years, and for possession beginning after the end of 1945, the instrument supporting the claim must be recorded with the clerk of the circuit court in the county where the land is located. A homeowner on the receiving end of a claim, and a claimant trying to perfect one, both need an attorney who reads the record closely.

Parkland Title Dispute Questions Answered

What is a quiet title action?

It is a lawsuit that asks the court to decide who owns a piece of real property and to cancel or remove competing claims, such as an invalid deed or an old recorded instrument. The judgment then clears the record so the owner can sell, refinance, or transfer the property.

Which court hears a title dispute over a Parkland property?

Title and partition actions are heard in circuit court. For land in Parkland, that is the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, which sits in and for Broward County. If the dispute involves property in more than one county, the case can be filed in any county where part of the land is located.

How long do I have to file a title-related lawsuit in Florida?

It depends on the claim. A suit founded on a written instrument has five years. Contract claims not based on a written instrument and rescission claims have four years. Fraud has four years from discovery, with a twelve-year cap. Specific performance has one year. A suit to recover real property is barred unless you or a predecessor was in possession within the prior seven years.

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

Yes, in many cases. Any co-owner can ask the court for partition. If the property cannot fairly be divided, the court can order a sale and split the proceeds in proportion to ownership. Before that happens, buyouts or negotiated sales are often available, and heirs property has additional protections.

What is heirs property, and why does it matter?

It is real property held by cotenants where at least one acquired title from a relative, there is no binding agreement among all cotenants governing partition, and another statutory condition is met, such as relatives holding twenty percent or more of the interests. If the property qualifies, the court must use the heirs property procedures, which are designed to make a forced sale less likely.

How does a court decide between dividing property and selling it?

Three commissioners appointed by the court review whether the land can be divided without prejudice to the owners. If they report that it cannot and the court agrees, the court may order a public sale. For heirs property, the commissioners must consider specific statutory factors before the court enters a partition in kind.

Can someone take my property by adverse possession?

Only if they meet strict requirements. They must possess the land continuously for seven years, claim it as their own to the exclusion of others, and follow the statutory filing steps. Claims under color of title also require the supporting instrument to be recorded in the county where the land lies. A property owner who learns of such a claim should act promptly.

What if my business partner put a company property in his own name?

That can support claims for breach of fiduciary duty, an accounting, and recovery of the asset, and may support a quiet title action to cancel the improper conveyance. If assets are being moved, a court can be asked for emergency relief to freeze the transfer while the case proceeds.

I live out of state. Do I have to come to Florida for every hearing?

No. The firm regularly represents clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who own Florida real estate, handles the local court appearances, and keeps clients informed at each stage. Scheduled conference calls can be arranged at times that work for everyone.

Is it worth litigating a title dispute over a smaller property?

Often it is worth at least a focused evaluation. An unresolved cloud can block a sale or refinance entirely, and the cost of a clean resolution is sometimes lower than the cost of living with the defect. The firm looks for the resolution that fits your goals and budget, which may be a negotiated settlement or mediation rather than a trial.

Can a failed home or land purchase be turned into a title case?

Sometimes. If a seller will not close on a valid contract, the buyer may seek specific performance, which must be brought within one year. If the failure involves a title defect, the claim may also involve rescission, damages, or a quiet title action, each with its own timeline.

Serving Parkland and Surrounding South Florida Title Dispute Clients

Our work for Parkland owners begins with the city itself and extends across Broward County, including Coral Springs, Margate, Coconut Creek, Tamarac, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Plantation, Weston, Sunrise, and Fort Lauderdale. We also represent property owners and investors throughout Palm Beach County, including Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Wellington, and West Palm Beach. Clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who hold real estate or business interests in these communities rely on the firm for the Florida side of their disputes.

Whether the issue is a family home inherited by siblings, a parcel held with a former business partner, or an investment property with a clouded deed, the work is grounded in the same record: the deeds, the entity documents, and the history of how the owners dealt with one another.

Speak With a Parkland Title Dispute Attorney

If your ownership of a Parkland property is being challenged, or a co-owner has left you stuck in a shared investment, a conversation with a Parkland title dispute attorney at the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can clarify which action fits and which deadline is closest. Call to schedule a consultation and bring whatever deeds, agreements, and correspondence you have. The team will review the record and tell you plainly what the options are.