Plantation Business Attorney

If you own a company in Plantation, or hold a stake in one, there is usually a specific moment when a business problem stops being something you can talk through. A partner stops answering questions about the books. A contract is ignored. A lease dispute threatens your location. At that point you need a Plantation business attorney who litigates, not just one who drafts paperwork. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team handles business and real estate disputes for owners, investors, and families in Plantation, across Broward County, and throughout South Florida.

Plantation sits in a busy commercial corridor, with professional offices, medical practices, retail centers, and closely held companies that were built by two or three people who trusted each other. That trust is often documented in a single operating agreement or a handshake. When the relationship fails, the paper, or the lack of it, decides what happens next.

The sections below cover the disputes we see most, what Florida law actually says about them, how the Broward courts handle business cases, and what to do in the first days after a problem surfaces.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for Plantation Business Disputes

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team is a business litigation and real estate firm serving Plantation, Fort Lauderdale, and the rest of Broward County, along with Palm Beach County and clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who hold business or real estate interests in South Florida. The firm represents business owners, investors, and families in partnership disputes, contract litigation, missing-funds cases, partition actions, and title disputes.

Andrew M. Schwartz, the firm’s founder, was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989 and has spent 37 years in litigation. He holds an undergraduate degree from Emory University (1986) and a law degree from the University of Miami (1989). His career has centered on complex contract disputes, business divorces, and conflicts among partners, LLC members, and shareholders. 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 everyone on your matter knows the file. The phones get answered, and the firm keeps a strict 24 hour return call policy when attorneys are in court. Clients get direct communication and scheduled conference calls at times that fit their calendars. The attorneys are experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as the courtroom, and they look for the resolution that fits the client’s goals and budget.

Results matter more than adjectives. After a 5-day bench trial in Broward County Circuit Court, the court issued a 32-page final judgment awarding the firm’s client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. That outcome reflects the kind of detailed trial preparation the firm brings to contract cases that turn on exact wording and the parties’ history.

Business Disputes We Handle for Plantation Owners

• Business Divorce: Co-owners who can no longer work together face deadlocked management, buyout fights, and valuation disputes. Florida’s LLC statute lists specific grounds for judicial dissolution, and corporate shareholders have their own statutory remedies.
• Breach of Operating or Shareholder Agreements: Disputes over capital contributions, profit splits, transfer restrictions, and management authority usually come down to what the document says and how the owners actually behaved.
• Breach of Fiduciary Duty: Managers, controlling members, and majority shareholders owe duties to the company and to minority owners. Self-dealing, excluded partners, and undisclosed side deals are the usual triggers.
• Missing Funds and Accounting Claims: Unpaid distributions, diverted company money, commingled accounts, and managers who cannot explain where cash went. We pursue accountings and recovery, and seek emergency relief when assets are being moved.
• Complex Contract Litigation: Purchase agreements, commercial leases, loan documents, construction contracts, and vendor agreements that one side has stopped honoring.
• Partition and Title Disputes: Co-owners of real estate, including former business partners, heirs, and unmarried couples, who need property divided, sold, or cleared of competing claims.
• Family Business Conflicts: Siblings, parents and children, and in-laws who share ownership and disagree about control, pay, and succession. These cases need discretion alongside firm financial protection.
• Injunctions: Temporary and permanent injunctions to freeze assets, protect property, or stop conduct that is damaging the business while the case proceeds.

What to Do in the First Days of a Business Dispute

Start by securing information. Gather the operating agreement or shareholder agreement, the articles, bank statements, tax returns, loan documents, and any emails or texts that show who agreed to what. If you have access to the company’s accounting system, save copies of the records now. Do not delete anything, and do not take records you have no right to access, since that can hurt your own case.

Next, check the clock. Florida sets different deadlines for different claims. A claim on a written contract generally must be filed within five years. Oral or implied contract claims get four years. Fraud claims have a four-year period running from discovery, with an outer limit of 12 years. A suit seeking specific performance carries a one-year period, which catches many real estate buyers off guard. Negligence claims are now two years, and non-medical professional malpractice claims are also two years from when the problem was or should have been discovered. A deadline you did not know about is the most expensive mistake in this field.

Third, look for urgency. If a partner is draining accounts, transferring assets, or locking you out, waiting for a normal lawsuit schedule may mean the money is gone before a judge looks at it. Courts can issue injunctions and, in dissolution cases, appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing with notice to the parties. Telling a lawyer early about any movement of funds changes what can realistically be done.

Then review your agreement for a way out. Some operating and shareholder agreements contain deadlock sale provisions, buy-sell formulas, or required mediation. Florida law gives effect to a deadlock sale provision that is properly started before the court finds grounds for dissolution, so the timing of who moves first can matter.

On venue, Plantation is in Broward County, so circuit-level business cases are filed in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit. The Broward courthouse serving the western part of the county is the West Regional Courthouse in Plantation, which hears county civil matters. Larger commercial cases go to the circuit court, which has complex business divisions that handle matters such as business entity dissolution and large commercial and construction litigation. Cases that qualify can be filed directly into those divisions. County court handles civil claims up to a threshold that is adjusted periodically, and circuit court takes cases above it. Federal court sits in Fort Lauderdale for matters that belong in the Southern District of Florida.

Finally, avoid the common errors: confronting a partner by email in anger, signing a buyout term sheet without a valuation, paying company bills out of personal funds without documentation, and assuming that a handshake deal cannot be enforced. Each of these can cost leverage that is hard to recover.

How Florida Law Handles Dissolving or Exiting a Company

For LLCs, Florida’s statute allows a member or manager to ask a circuit court to dissolve the company on specific grounds. These include that the business is being run unlawfully, that it is not reasonably practicable to operate under the articles and operating agreement, that controlling members are acting or are expected to act illegally or fraudulently, that assets are being misappropriated or wasted to the company’s injury, or that managers or members are deadlocked and irreparable injury is threatened or occurring. Dissolution is a blunt tool, so courts can also order a buyout of the petitioner’s interest or appoint a receiver or custodian when the showing has enough merit.

For corporations, a shareholder can seek judicial dissolution on statutory grounds, and the remedy is not always a shutdown. In a dissolution case, the corporation may elect, or if it does not, other shareholders may elect, to buy out the petitioning shareholder at fair value. If the parties agree on value and terms within 60 days of the first election, the court enters an order on those terms. An election to purchase is irrevocable unless the court finds it equitable to modify it. While the case is pending, a court can issue injunctions, appoint a receiver or custodian, and take steps to preserve corporate assets. Shareholders other than the petitioner must also receive notice of their right to avoid dissolution by buying the petitioner out.

Real estate adds its own tools. In a partition action, the court first considers dividing the property. If a fair division is not possible, it can order a sale at public auction and split the proceeds by ownership share. Heirs property, meaning co-owned land held among relatives under certain conditions, follows a separate statutory process with added protections for cotenants. Quiet title actions let an owner clear competing claims, and in a Plantation property dispute the suit can be filed in any county where any part of the land sits.

Many of these disputes end without a final trial. Negotiated buyouts, structured wind-downs, mediation, and arbitration all resolve cases, and our attorneys use them when they serve the client better than a prolonged court fight.

Plantation Business Attorney FAQ

What does a business attorney in Plantation actually do?

The work splits into two sides. Transactional work covers contracts, entity agreements, and general counsel questions. Litigation covers disputes among owners, breaches of contract, missing money, and real estate conflicts. Our firm does both, with a deep focus on the dispute side.

Can I force a partner out of my Florida LLC?

It depends on your operating agreement and the partner’s conduct. Many agreements contain buyout or expulsion terms. Florida law also provides remedies for serious misconduct or when the company cannot function. A lawyer should read the agreement before you take any step.

What can I do if a business partner is taking company money?

Possible claims include breach of fiduciary duty, an accounting, conversion, and recovery of funds. If assets are being moved, a court can issue emergency injunctive relief to stop spending or transfers while the case is pending.

How long do I have to sue over a breach of contract in Florida?

Five years for a contract founded on a written instrument, and four years for oral or implied contracts. Specific performance suits have a one-year period. These deadlines run from when the claim arises, so waiting to see if a partner makes things right can cost you the case.

Does every business dispute have to go to court?

No. Negotiation, mediation, and arbitration resolve many disputes. We pursue the route most likely to meet your goals efficiently, and we prepare for trial in case talks fail.

Where will my case be heard if I am in Plantation?

Plantation is in Broward County, so state court cases go through the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit. County court hears civil claims up to a threshold that is adjusted periodically, and circuit court hears larger ones. Some federal claims belong in the Southern District of Florida.

What is Broward’s complex business court?

The Seventeenth Circuit has business and tort divisions created for matters such as business entity dissolution, large commercial disputes, and construction litigation. Cases can be filed directly into those divisions under the circuit’s administrative order, and the clerk randomly assigns them.

My partner and I own a building together and cannot agree. What are my options?

You can negotiate a buyout, agree to sell, or ask a court for partition. If the court cannot divide the property fairly, it can order a public sale and split the proceeds. A purchaser who gets credit terms generally has to put down at least one-third of the price, unless everyone agrees otherwise.

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

Often, yes, if the real stakes include your ownership stake, your lease, or a recurring relationship. Even for smaller sums, an early letter or a mediation session can end the problem before fees outgrow the amount in dispute. We weigh cost against value and say so plainly.

I live in New York or New Jersey and own part of a Plantation business. Can you represent me?

Yes. We regularly represent clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with business or real estate interests in South Florida. We handle the local court appearances and keep you informed, so you do not have to travel for each hearing.

Can an LLC dispute be settled through a buy-sell or deadlock provision instead of a lawsuit?

If your agreement has one, it may control. Florida law gives effect to a deadlock sale provision that is properly initiated and carried out before a court finds grounds for dissolution. Checking the agreement before filing anything is essential.

Do you work with other attorneys on Florida business cases?

Yes. A significant part of our practice comes from referrals by other lawyers, including out of state attorneys whose clients have Florida disputes. We keep referring counsel informed and respect their client relationships.

Serving Business Clients Across Plantation and Broward County

From central Plantation and the commercial areas along University Drive and Broward Boulevard, our team represents owners and investors who run businesses or hold property in the area. We also serve clients in neighboring Sunrise, Davie, Lauderhill, Lauderdale Lakes, and Tamarac, as well as Fort Lauderdale, Oakland Park, Pembroke Pines, Miramar, Weston, Coral Springs, Margate, Coconut Creek, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Hollywood, and Hallandale Beach.

Beyond Broward, we represent clients in Palm Beach County, including Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Wellington, and West Palm Beach. Disputes involving Plantation companies often reach into these communities, and so do the owners themselves. Whether your partner is down the road or in another state, the work stays the same: understand the documents, secure the facts, and pick the right forum.

Talk With a Plantation Business Attorney Before the Dispute Deepens

If a partner, tenant, buyer, or vendor has put your business or property at risk, the first conversation with a Plantation business lawyer can tell you which deadlines apply, what leverage you have, and whether urgent court relief is realistic. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team will review your documents, explain your options plainly, and tell you whether litigation or a negotiated exit makes more sense. Call us to schedule a consultation.