Plantation Real Estate Title Dispute Attorney

A title problem rarely announces itself until someone tries to sell, refinance, or divide a property, and by then the other side has often been sitting on a competing claim for years. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team handles Plantation real estate title dispute attorney matters for property owners, investors, and families in Plantation and throughout Broward County and Palm Beach County, including quiet title actions, partition cases, and conflicts between co-owners.

Title disputes in South Florida tend to follow a handful of patterns: a former business partner who still appears on the deed, siblings who inherited a house and cannot agree on what to do with it, an unmarried couple who bought together and separated, a recorded instrument that clouds ownership, or an investor who needs to cut ties with a shared property. Each one has its own legal mechanism and its own timing rules, and picking the wrong one can cost a year of litigation.

The sections below explain which court procedures apply, what deadlines matter, what to gather before you talk to a lawyer, and how these cases generally play out in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, which sits in and for Broward County.

Why Clients Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for Title and Ownership Disputes

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team is a Boca Raton litigation firm that represents business owners, investors, and families in Plantation, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, and across Broward and Palm Beach Counties, along with clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who hold business or real estate interests in South Florida. 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 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 exactly the background that produces many title fights.

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. The firm works as a true team, so everyone on a matter knows the file, and it keeps a strict 24 hour return call policy when attorneys are in court. Clients who live out of state can rely on the firm to handle local appearances so they do not have to travel for every hearing.

On the proof side, a recent final judgment from a five-day bench trial in Broward County Circuit Court, a 32-page order issued in May 2024, awarded the firm’s client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. That kind of result reflects what real estate litigation requires: command of the documents, patience with a full trial record, and the ability to explain a property dispute clearly to a judge. The firm is also experienced in mediation and arbitration, and it looks for the resolution that fits the client’s goals and budget instead of stretching a case out for its own sake.

Types of Title and Co-Ownership Disputes We Handle

• Quiet Title Actions: A lawsuit asking the court to determine who owns land and to cancel a deed or other instrument that clouds title. Florida’s chapter 65 gives the circuit court jurisdiction over claims of legal or equitable title, including cases where two or more people claim the same land under a common source. The plaintiff generally has to trace title back at least seven years unless the court orders otherwise.
• Partition of Jointly Owned Property: When co-owners cannot agree, any owner can ask the court to divide the property or order it sold and split the proceeds. Common in Plantation and elsewhere in Broward County among former business partners, heirs, and unmarried couples.
• Heirs Property Cases: Property held in common among relatives is subject to the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act, which changes the process by pushing courts toward fair-market-value protections and away from forced sales when relatives hold interests.
• Fraudulent or Forged Conveyances: A deed signed by someone who did not own the property, or a transfer made to defeat a creditor or co-owner. Florida allows a quiet title action on a fraudulent attempted conveyance, with a summary procedure and priority on the court’s calendar.
• Adverse Possession Claims: A person who has openly occupied property for seven years may claim ownership, either with color of title or without it, but the statute imposes strict requirements, including payment of taxes and a filed return describing the property. Owners defending against such a claim need to act before the possession period ripens.
• Competing Claims Between Business Partners: Property bought through a company, held personally, or transferred between owners without clean paperwork. When a partnership dissolves, who actually holds title can become the central question.
• Failed Closings and Contract-Based Ownership Disputes: A buyer claiming an enforceable contract to purchase, or a seller refusing to close. Specific performance asks the court to compel the sale, and the window to file is short.
• Landlord and Tenant Title Questions: Disputes where a tenant, occupant, or claimed co-owner asserts rights that conflict with the record owner, including termination notices and possession actions.

What to Do When Ownership of a Property Is in Question

Start by pulling together every document that touches the property: the deed or deeds in your chain of title, the closing statement, any mortgage or lien paperwork, the operating agreement or partnership agreement if a business entity is involved, and any correspondence in which the other party acknowledged or disputed ownership. If you inherited the property, locate the will, the probate file, and any records showing who paid taxes, insurance, and repairs. Those payment records often matter more than people expect.

Do not sign anything new, record anything yourself, or move out of the property before you understand where you stand. In a Plantation case involving a shared home or investment property, the one who leaves can later face arguments about abandonment, and the one who stays can face claims for rent owed to co-owners. Keep your own record of who has lived in, maintained, or collected income from the property.

Timing matters. A suit to recover real property is barred unless the plaintiff or a predecessor held possession within the prior seven years. Written-contract claims carry a five-year limit, oral contract claims four years, rescission four years, and fraud four years from discovery with a 12-year cap. A claim for specific performance, which asks a court to force a sale, has a one-year period. Some of these clocks run from events you may not have thought of as triggers, so have the dates reviewed early.

Cases involving Plantation property are filed in Broward County, where the circuit court is the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit. A quiet title or partition case can be filed in any county where any part of the land sits. Circuit civil matters are heard at the Central Judicial Complex in Fort Lauderdale, and the West Regional Courthouse in Plantation also hears Broward civil matters. The Seventeenth Circuit also has a complex business division that handles dissolution of certain business entities and large business and construction litigation, which can come into play when a title dispute is tied to a failing company. Where federal jurisdiction exists, the Southern District of Florida sits in Fort Lauderdale.

The most common mistake is waiting. The second is assuming a handshake arrangement or an informal family understanding will be honored without paperwork. Third is recording a competing document in the public records without advice, which can create a counterclaim for slander of title. Talk to a lawyer before you take any step that changes the record.

How Partition and Quiet Title Cases Actually Move Through Court

A partition case begins with a complaint that describes the land, names every owner and where they live, and states what share each holds. All partition actions are equitable, so they are decided by the judge. If the court finds a right to partition, it enters a judgment and appoints three commissioners, usually chosen by the court unless the parties agree. The commissioners evaluate whether the property can be divided fairly. If it cannot be divided without prejudice to the owners, the court may order a public sale to the highest bidder and divide the proceeds by ownership percentage. For a sale on credit, at least one-third of the purchase money must be paid down unless everyone agrees otherwise.

Heirs property changes that path. If the court finds the property qualifies, Part II of chapter 64 governs, and a partition in kind cannot be ordered unless the court is satisfied that commissioners considered the statutory factors and found that dividing the land would prejudice the cotenants as a group. A relative who wants to keep a family home often has more leverage than they realize.

Quiet title cases turn on the documents. The plaintiff must trace title, identify each adverse claimant, and show why the competing instrument should be canceled or declared void. A court can cancel a conveyance and remove the cloud, but only if the record supports it. When the dispute involves a business partner, the title fight is often one piece of a larger case involving an accounting, breach of fiduciary duty, or dissolution, and strategy has to account for all of it together.

When co-owners are LLC members or shareholders rather than individuals, the path may run through dissolution. A court can dissolve an LLC when members are deadlocked and irreparable injury is threatened, when assets are being misappropriated or wasted, or when it is not reasonably practicable to carry on activities under the operating agreement. It can also appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing, or order a buyout of the petitioning member. For corporations, shareholders have a parallel right to seek dissolution, and the corporation or other shareholders may elect to buy out the petitioner at fair value, with a 60-day window to agree on price and terms. Where the operating or shareholder agreement has its own deadlock sale provision, that provision can take priority if it is initiated and carried out. When assets are at risk of being moved or spent during the case, emergency injunctive relief may be available.

Plantation Title Dispute Questions, Answered

What is the difference between a quiet title action and a partition action?

A quiet title action asks the court to decide who owns property or to remove a competing claim. A partition action assumes the co-owners all have a legitimate interest and asks the court to divide the property or sell it and split the proceeds. Some disputes require both.

How far back does a quiet title plaintiff have to trace ownership?

Florida’s statute requires the plaintiff to deraign title for at least seven years before the lawsuit, unless the court orders otherwise. Your lawyer will usually order a title search and review the full chain of recorded instruments.

Can one co-owner force the others to sell?

Often, yes. A co-owner generally has the right to ask the court for partition, and if the property cannot be divided fairly, the court may order a sale. Heirs property has added protections, so the answer depends on how the property was acquired and who holds the interests.

What counts as heirs property in Florida?

It is real property held in tenancy in common with no binding agreement among all cotenants governing partition, where at least one cotenant got title from a relative and additional conditions apply. One qualifying condition is that twenty percent or more of the interests are held by cotenants who are relatives.

How long do I have to sue over a deed or contract problem?

It depends on the claim. Written-contract claims have five years, oral contract claims four years, rescission four years, and fraud four years from discovery with a 12-year outer limit. Specific performance has a one-year period. A suit to recover real property requires that the plaintiff or a predecessor held possession within seven years before filing.

Can someone claim my property by living on it?

Adverse possession is possible in Florida, but it requires seven years of actual, continuous possession under a claim of title exclusive of others, and the claimant must follow statutory steps, including filing a return with the property appraiser that includes a full legal description. Claims under color of title also require the instrument to be recorded. Owners who discover someone occupying their land should address it quickly.

What if a former business partner is still on the deed?

You may need a combination of remedies: a quiet title or partition action for the property itself and, depending on the facts, claims under the operating or partnership agreement. If the business is an LLC or corporation, dissolution or a buyout may resolve the ownership problem along with the company dispute.

Is it worth hiring a lawyer for a small family property dispute?

Often it is, because the cost of leaving an ownership issue unresolved grows over time, especially if you cannot sell, refinance, or pass the property on. A short consultation can tell you whether negotiation or mediation is realistic before anyone files suit.

Can I handle a title dispute from out of state?

Yes. The firm regularly represents clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who own property or business interests in South Florida. The firm handles local court appearances and keeps clients informed so they do not have to travel for every hearing.

Does every title dispute end up in a trial?

No. Many are resolved through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, particularly when the relationship between the owners still matters. The firm’s attorneys have experience in alternative dispute resolution as well as courtroom litigation and pursue whichever path is most likely to reach your goals efficiently.

What happens if the other side is moving assets while the case is pending?

A court can issue temporary or permanent injunctions, including emergency relief, to stop assets from being transferred or spent during the case. In dissolution proceedings, the court can also appoint a receiver or custodian after notice and a hearing.

Do referring attorneys work with your firm on these cases?

Yes. A significant part of the firm’s practice comes from referrals by other lawyers, including out-of-state attorneys whose clients have Florida real estate disputes. The firm communicates with referring counsel throughout the matter and respects the referring attorney’s relationship with the client.

Serving Real Estate Title Dispute Clients Across Plantation and South Florida

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents property owners in Plantation and the surrounding Broward County communities, including Sunrise, Davie, Lauderhill, Lauderdale Lakes, Tamarac, Coral Springs, Parkland, Weston, Pembroke Pines, Hollywood, Hallandale Beach, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Oakland Park, and Fort Lauderdale. The firm also serves clients in Palm Beach County, including Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Lake Worth, Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, and West Palm Beach.

Whether the property is a single-family home in a residential neighborhood, a commercial parcel, an investment property held through an LLC, or a family property passed down among heirs, the same issues recur: who is on title, who has a right to sell, and how to separate on fair terms. Clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with South Florida holdings can work with the firm remotely while the team handles local filings and hearings.

Talk With a Plantation Title Dispute Lawyer Before the Deadline Decides for You

If you are dealing with a cloud on your title, a co-owner who will not cooperate, or a competing claim to your property, a conversation with a Plantation title dispute lawyer can clarify which procedure fits and how much time you have. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team will review your documents, explain your options in plain terms, and recommend the path that fits your goals and budget. Call to schedule a consultation.