Plantation Business Divorce Attorney

Business owners in Plantation who need to separate from a partner, co-member, or fellow shareholder will find that the dispute is heard in Broward County’s Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, which has a complex business division set up for matters like dissolutions and large commercial cases. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team handles business divorce, partnership and member disputes, and shareholder conflicts for owners in Plantation, Fort Lauderdale, and across Broward and Palm Beach Counties, and the firm is built around the kind of disputes that end co-ownership relationships.

A Plantation business divorce attorney spends most of the time on questions that decide the outcome long before a judge rules: who has the right to run the company today, what the operating or shareholder agreement actually says about exits, whether money has been moved that should not have been, and what the owner’s interest is worth. Plantation is a commercial hub for professional practices, medical and dental groups, franchise operators, contractors, and family-held real estate companies, and the ownership fights that come out of them tend to follow the same few patterns: a deadlock, a buyout that cannot be priced, or a partner who stopped acting like one.

The right path depends on what you own and what the paperwork says. Some of these disputes end in a negotiated buyout across a conference table. Others require a filing in circuit court, an emergency injunction, or a petition to dissolve the company. Knowing which of those you are in, and acting before assets are drained or leverage shifts, is most of the work.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for a Business Divorce

The Andrew M. Andrew M. Schwartz, the firm’s founder, has spent 37 years in litigation and has practiced in Florida since being 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 career has centered on complex contract disputes, business divorces, and conflicts among partners, LLC members, and shareholders, which is exactly the terrain a Plantation owner is in when a co-owner relationship breaks down.

Sundeep Nath, Senior Counsel, is a Northwestern-trained litigator with years of experience in business and real estate cases in both state and federal courts. That matters in Broward County, where a shareholder or member dispute can land in the circuit court or, when federal jurisdiction applies, in the Southern District of Florida. The firm works as a true legal team, so everyone on a matter knows the file, and it keeps a strict 24 hour return call policy when attorneys are in court.

Recent results reflect the contract-heavy nature of this work. After a 5-day bench trial, a Broward County circuit judge issued a 32-page final judgment awarding the firm’s 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 the client’s goals and budget rather than stretching a case out for its own sake. A significant part of the practice comes from referrals by other attorneys, including out of state lawyers whose clients have Florida business interests.

Situations That Lead Plantation Owners to a Business Divorce

Deadlocked Management: Two 50/50 owners who cannot agree on a major decision can freeze payroll, vendor payments, and hiring. For an LLC, Florida law lets a court dissolve the company when managers or members are deadlocked, cannot break the deadlock, and irreparable injury to the company is threatened or occurring. If the operating agreement has its own deadlock sale mechanism and it is started before the court finds those grounds, that mechanism generally controls.
Buyouts and Valuation Fights: Most separations end with one side buying the other out, and the argument is almost always about price. In a corporate dissolution case, the corporation or the other shareholders may elect to buy the petitioning shareholder’s shares at fair value, and if the parties agree on value and terms within 60 days of the first election, the court enters an order directing the purchase.
Misappropriated or Missing Funds: A partner who diverts distributions, commingles accounts, or cannot account for company money creates claims for an accounting, breach of fiduciary duty, and recovery of the funds. Misappropriation or waste of company assets that causes injury is itself a statutory ground for judicially dissolving an LLC.
Breach of Operating or Shareholder Agreements: Unauthorized transfers, ignored buy-sell terms, self-dealing, and violations of approval requirements are common triggers. These cases turn on the exact wording of the agreement and how the owners actually behaved.
Minority Owner Squeeze-Outs: A minority member or shareholder may be cut out of information, compensation, or decisions. Remedies range from compelling records and an accounting to a court-ordered purchase of the minority interest or dissolution.
Family and Friend-Owned Companies: Siblings who inherited a business, parents and children with different visions, or spouses and in-laws who share ownership face control and compensation questions with emotional weight. These cases call for discretion alongside firm protection of the client’s financial position.
Shared Real Estate Held by Former Partners: Co-owned property often outlasts the business relationship. Florida’s partition statutes let a court divide the property or order it sold and the proceeds divided, and quiet title actions can clear competing ownership claims.

What to Do Now if Your Business Partnership Is Breaking Down

Start by pulling the documents that govern the relationship: the operating agreement or shareholder agreement, any buy-sell or deadlock provisions, the articles of organization or incorporation, and any amendments or side agreements. Those papers often answer whether you have a contractual exit, a forced-sale mechanism, or only the statutory remedies. Then gather the financial record you are entitled to see, including bank statements, tax returns, general ledgers, capital contribution records, and distribution histories. If you suspect money is leaving the company, do that before the other side knows you are looking.

Do not lock yourself out of the business, remove records, or take company funds as self-help. Courts look hard at how each owner behaved, and a clean record helps you whether you end up negotiating or in front of a judge. Keep communications factual and in writing where possible, and avoid signing anything that releases claims or changes ownership until a lawyer has read it.

Pay attention to deadlines. A claim founded on a written instrument, such as an operating or shareholder agreement, has a five-year limitations period in Florida. A claim based on an oral or implied agreement has four years, and a fraud claim has four years from discovery, capped at 12 years. A request for specific performance of a contract carries only one year. Those clocks can run differently on different claims in the same dispute, which is a reason to talk to a lawyer early rather than after the relationship has fully collapsed.

For Plantation owners, the case will generally be filed in the Circuit Court of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit in and for Broward County, with the main civil divisions in Fort Lauderdale. The Seventeenth Circuit also maintains a complex business division that handles dissolutions of certain business entities and large business litigation, and a filer can ask to be placed there directly by completing the required form with the Clerk at filing; the Clerk then randomly assigns the case to a complex business division. The West Regional Courthouse in Plantation hears some Broward civil matters. Cases that fall under federal jurisdiction go to the Southern District of Florida, which sits in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. If the company or property involved is in Palm Beach County, the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit in West Palm Beach would hear the case instead, and the firm handles proceedings in both counties.

How Courts Resolve Ownership Deadlocks and Forced Separations

Florida’s LLC and corporation statutes give a court several tools when owners cannot work together. For an LLC, a member or manager can ask a circuit court to dissolve the company on specific grounds: activities are being conducted unlawfully, it is not reasonably practicable to operate in line with the articles and operating agreement, controlling members or managers have acted or are expected to act illegally or fraudulently, assets are being misappropriated or wasted, or the owners are deadlocked and irreparable injury is threatened. When a petition has sufficient merit, the court can appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing with notice to the parties, or order the purchase of the petitioning member’s interest instead of dissolving.

Corporations follow a parallel framework. A shareholder can petition for judicial dissolution, and the corporation or other shareholders can respond by electing to buy the petitioner’s shares at fair value. Within 30 days of a dissolution proceeding being filed under the shareholder-petition grounds, the corporation has to notify the other shareholders that they may avoid dissolution by electing to buy. An election to purchase is irrevocable unless the court finds it equitable to set it aside or modify it. During the proceeding, the court can issue injunctions, appoint a receiver or custodian, and take other steps to preserve assets and keep the business running until a full hearing.

That last point is why injunction practice is often central to a business divorce. When a partner is moving money, transferring property, or shutting out an owner, waiting for a final judgment can mean there is nothing left to recover. The firm seeks temporary and permanent injunctions, including emergency relief, to freeze the situation while the real dispute is decided.

Real Estate That Ties Former Partners Together

Business divorces frequently involve property held in joint names, whether an office building, a rental portfolio, or land bought as a shared investment. Florida partition actions are brought in chancery. The complaint must describe the land, identify the owners and where they live, and state each owner’s share. The court appoints three commissioners to determine whether the property can be divided fairly. If it cannot be divided without prejudice to the owners, the court may order it sold at public auction and divide the proceeds in proportion to each owner’s interest. A court can also order a sale on credit for good cause, but at least one-third of the purchase money must be paid down unless all parties consent otherwise.

Where the property came through family inheritance, Florida’s Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act can change the process, including giving other cotenants the chance to buy out a requesting owner and limiting forced sales. Quiet title actions, filed in any county where part of the land sits, can remove clouds on title or cancel competing claims, and plaintiffs generally must trace title back at least seven years unless the court orders otherwise.

Frequently Asked Questions About Business Divorce in Plantation

What is a business divorce?

It is the separation of co-owners of a company, whether partners, LLC members, or shareholders. It can end through a negotiated buyout, a sale of the business, a structured wind-down, or a court-ordered dissolution when the owners cannot agree.

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, expulsion, or dissociation terms, and Florida law offers court remedies when there is serious misconduct or the company can no longer function. A lawyer should read the agreement before you take any step.

What can I do if my partner is taking money from the company?

Depending on the facts, you may have claims for breach of fiduciary duty, an accounting, conversion, and recovery of the funds. Where assets are at risk, a court can issue injunctive relief to stop them from being moved or spent while the case is pending.

Do we have to go to court to separate?

No. Many disputes resolve through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, and the firm’s attorneys are experienced in all three as well as in the courtroom. The right path depends on the agreement, the relationship, and what is at stake.

How long do I have to bring a claim against a business partner?

A claim based on a written agreement generally has five years in Florida, while oral or implied contract claims have four. Fraud claims run four years from discovery, with a 12-year outer limit, and specific performance has just one year. Because different claims in one dispute can have different deadlines, early review matters.

What happens if our operating agreement has a deadlock or buy-sell provision?

Those provisions often control. For LLCs, if a deadlock sale provision is started before a court finds deadlock grounds, it applies in place of a judicial dissolution or court-ordered buyout. For corporations, a dissolution filing does not cancel a shareholder’s right to start an available deadlock sale under a compliant shareholder agreement.

Can a court appoint someone to run the business while we fight?

Yes. In a dissolution proceeding, a court can appoint a receiver or custodian after notice and a hearing, and it can issue injunctions and take other steps to preserve assets. The showing has to have sufficient merit, so the factual record matters.

How is a minority owner’s stake valued in a buyout?

In a corporate dissolution case, the statute calls for purchase at fair value, and the parties first try to agree on value and terms. When they cannot, the valuation becomes a contested issue, often involving financial experts, company records, and the way the business has actually operated. The agreement itself may also set a formula.

My partner and I also own a building together. Can that be separated too?

Yes. A partition action allows a court to divide the property or order it sold and divide the proceeds. A quiet title action can resolve competing claims of ownership. These are often filed alongside or after the business dispute.

Does it matter if I live outside Florida?

Not for hiring the firm. The firm regularly represents clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with Florida business or real estate interests, handles the local court appearances, and keeps you informed so you do not have to travel for every hearing.

Can a business divorce be brought in federal court?

Sometimes, depending on the parties and claims involved. The Southern District of Florida covers Broward and Palm Beach Counties and holds court in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. Most partner and member disputes between Florida owners proceed in state circuit court.

Serving Business Divorce Clients Across Plantation and Broward County

From Plantation, the firm represents owners across central and western Broward, including Sunrise, Davie, Lauderhill, Lauderdale Lakes, Tamarac, and Weston. We work with clients in Fort Lauderdale, Coral Springs, Parkland, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Coconut Creek, Margate, Hollywood, Pembroke Pines, Miramar, and Cooper City as well. Because the firm also serves Palm Beach County, we take on disputes for owners in Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Wellington, and West Palm Beach. Many of our clients live out of state, in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, but own companies or property in South Florida, and we handle the Florida proceedings for them.