Pompano Beach Family Business Dispute Attorney

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents business owners, investors, and families in Pompano Beach and across Broward County when a company they own together starts coming apart. The firm handles partnership and member disputes, business divorce, contract litigation, missing-money claims, and real estate conflicts for clients throughout South Florida, including Palm Beach County.

A Pompano Beach family business dispute attorney deals with a problem that ordinary commercial litigation does not: the person across the table may be your brother, your mother, your spouse’s cousin, or the friend who stood up at your wedding. Siblings who inherited a company, parents and grown children who disagree about its future, and in-laws who hold shares all run into the same questions. Who controls the business? Who gets paid, and how much? What happens to the property it sits on?

Those questions get answered one way or another, either by agreement or by a judge. The goal is to keep the family relationship and the company intact if that is possible, and to separate cleanly and fairly if it is not.

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

The Andrew M. Andrew M. Schwartz, the firm’s founder, was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989 and has spent 37 years in litigation, with a career built around complex contract disputes, business divorces, and conflicts among partners, LLC members, and shareholders. He earned his undergraduate degree from Emory University in 1986 and his law degree from the University of Miami in 1989.

He is joined by Senior Counsel Sundeep Nath, a Northwestern-trained litigator with years of experience in business and real estate cases in state and federal courts. The firm practices as a true legal team, which means everyone working on your matter knows the file. When you call, someone can answer your question, and the firm keeps a strict 24 hour return call policy when the attorneys are in court.

Family disputes call for judgment as much as aggression. Andrew’s own view, drawn from decades of practice, is that clients often arrive wanting a hyper-aggressive lawyer but really want one who acts as the situation requires and uses finesse when finesse will do. The attorneys are experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as courtroom litigation, and they look for the resolution that fits the client’s goals and budget rather than stretching a case out.

The firm also has trial results to point to. After a five-day bench trial in Broward County Circuit Court, the judge entered a 32-page final judgment awarding the firm’s client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. Cases like that turn on the exact wording of an agreement and the history between the parties, which is the same close reading family business disputes demand.

Where Family Business Disputes Usually Start

• Inherited Ownership Without a Plan: A parent dies and leaves a company or its real estate to several children, some active in the business and some not. Without a clear operating or shareholder agreement, disagreements over salary, distributions, and control follow quickly.
• Deadlocked Management: Two siblings each hold half of an LLC and cannot agree on a major decision. Florida’s LLC statute lists deadlock, with irreparable injury to the company threatened or occurring, as a ground a member can raise for judicial dissolution.
• Unequal Contributions and Compensation: One relative works full time while another collects distributions, or one family member claims capital contributions the others dispute. These fights often depend on what was written down and what the parties actually did for years.
• Missing or Diverted Funds: A relative running the books cannot explain where company money went. Claims can include an accounting, breach of fiduciary duty, and recovery of funds, along with emergency relief to stop assets from being moved.
• Squeezed-Out Minority Owners: A family member holding a smaller stake is shut out of decisions, information, or distributions by those in control. Fiduciary duty and the buyout and dissolution remedies in Florida’s business statutes may come into play.
• Jointly Owned Real Estate: Siblings, former partners, or relatives co-own a building or lot and one wants out. Florida allows a partition action, either dividing the property or ordering a sale and dividing the proceeds, and title disputes may call for a quiet title action.
• Breach of Operating or Shareholder Agreements: The paper says one thing and the family has done another. Courts look hard at the wording, and a dispute over what the agreement requires is often where the case is won or lost.
• Succession Disagreements: The founder wants to retire, one child wants to run the company, another wants to sell. Without agreement on valuation and terms, the dispute can freeze operations.

What to Do When a Family Co-Owner Becomes an Adversary

Start by getting the documents in one place. That means the articles of organization or incorporation, the operating agreement or shareholder agreement, any buy-sell terms, tax returns, bank and credit card statements, and loan documents. Do this before tempers rise further and before anyone changes passwords or locks anyone out. If you suspect money is leaving the company, copy the financial records you are legally entitled to see rather than deleting or altering anything.

Read your agreement for a deadlock sale provision. Under Florida’s LLC and corporation statutes, if an agreement contains a deadlock sale mechanism and it is properly started, it can control over a judicial dissolution order. Starting a court case first may not cut off your right to use that mechanism in a corporate setting, but the details matter, so have the agreement reviewed before you move.

Watch the clock. A claim founded on a written contract, such as an operating agreement, generally has a five-year limitations period in Florida. An oral or implied contract claim has four years. A fraud claim runs four years from discovery, with an outer limit of 12 years. A specific performance action has a one-year period. Because these deadlines differ by claim, waiting to see if the family cools down can cost you a remedy.

Be careful about what you say in writing. Texts and emails among relatives tend to be emotional, and they become exhibits. Avoid threats, avoid admissions about the business, and avoid taking money or property on your own as self-help. If assets are at risk, ask early about a temporary or emergency injunction. In a dissolution case, a court can appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing with notice to the parties, and in corporate dissolution proceedings it can issue injunctions and act to preserve assets.

Cases for Pompano Beach businesses are filed in Broward County, which sits in Florida’s Seventeenth Judicial Circuit. Claims above the county court threshold go to circuit court, and the Seventeenth Circuit has complex business divisions that handle matters such as the dissolution of certain business entities and large business litigation. Federal court in Fort Lauderdale is available in cases with a basis for federal jurisdiction. Where the dispute involves property or a co-owner in Palm Beach County, the matter proceeds in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit instead.

Finally, talk with a lawyer before you confront the other side. Many family disputes resolve through negotiation or mediation, and the best leverage often comes from knowing your rights and options before the first conversation.

Buyouts, Dissolution, and Partition: How the Law Ends a Family Ownership

Florida gives courts several ways to untangle co-owners. For an LLC, a member can seek judicial dissolution on grounds that include a deadlock that threatens irreparable injury, misappropriation or waste of assets, illegal or fraudulent conduct by those in control, or that it is not reasonably practicable to carry on the business under the operating agreement. In that proceeding the court may appoint a receiver or custodian, or order a purchase of the petitioning member’s interest instead of dissolving the company.

For corporations, a shareholder may petition for dissolution on specified grounds, and the corporation or other shareholders can elect to buy out 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 for the purchase on those terms. The corporation must notify the other shareholders within 30 days of the filing that they can avoid dissolution by electing to purchase. That election is irrevocable unless the court finds it equitable to modify it. These mechanisms give a family a structured path to a buyout rather than a fight to the finish.

When the shared asset is real estate, partition may be the answer. A partition case is heard in the court of equity, and the complaint must describe the land, name the owners and where they live, and state each owner’s share. If the court finds the land cannot be divided fairly, it can order a public sale and split the proceeds in proportion to ownership. Property inherited by relatives may be treated as heirs property under Florida’s Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act, which adds protections before a forced sale. Title problems can be addressed through a quiet title action, which can be filed in any county where part of the land lies.

Family Business Dispute Questions We Hear in Pompano Beach

What counts as a family business dispute?

It is any disagreement among co-owners who are related by blood or marriage, or who started the company as close friends. Common examples include fights over control, pay, distributions, missing money, buyouts, and what to do with jointly owned property.

Do we have to go to court?

No. Many disputes resolve through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration. The firm’s attorneys are experienced in each, and they pursue the path most likely to meet your goals efficiently.

Can I force a relative out of our LLC?

It depends on your operating agreement and the conduct involved. Many agreements include buyout, expulsion, or dissociation provisions, and Florida law provides remedies when a member has engaged in serious misconduct or the company can no longer function.

What if a family member is taking money from the business?

You may have claims for breach of fiduciary duty, an accounting, conversion, and recovery of the funds. In urgent situations, a court can order injunctive relief to stop assets from being moved or spent while the case is pending.

What is a business divorce?

It is the separation of co-owners of a company, whether partners, LLC members, or shareholders. It can end in a negotiated buyout, a sale of the business, a structured wind-down, or court-ordered dissolution.

How long do I have to file a claim over a written operating agreement?

Florida generally allows five years for an action founded on a written instrument. Oral or implied contract claims get four years. Because the period depends on the type of claim, confirm the deadline early.

My parent started the business and never signed an operating agreement. Does that matter?

It matters a great deal. Without a written agreement, the parties’ rights fall back on Florida’s default statutes and on how the family actually dealt with each other over time. Those facts become central evidence, so gather records and communications now.

Can a minority owner be forced to sell?

In corporate dissolution cases, other shareholders can elect to buy out a petitioning shareholder at fair value. A minority owner who is being squeezed out also has fiduciary duty and dissolution remedies. The right move depends on the entity type and what the agreement says.

Which court would hear our case?

For Pompano Beach businesses, Broward County Circuit Court in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit hears disputes above the county court limit, and its complex business divisions handle larger business matters. Claims below that limit may be heard in county court, and federal court is an option only where jurisdiction exists.

Can a family member who lives out of state bring or defend a case here?

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

Is it worth hiring a lawyer if the amounts are modest?

Often yes, because the real stake is control of the company or property, not just a dollar figure. An early consultation can show whether a negotiated fix, mediation, or a filing makes the most sense for your budget.

Can the business keep operating during the dispute?

Usually, yes. Courts can issue injunctions or appoint a receiver or custodian when assets are at risk, but many companies keep running while the owners negotiate or litigate.

Serving Family Business Owners Across Pompano Beach and Broward County

The firm represents clients from Pompano Beach and its neighborhoods, including the beach and Intracoastal areas, the Cypress Creek corridor, and the commercial districts that serve the city’s marine, restaurant, and retail businesses. Our attorneys also work with owners in neighboring Broward County communities such as Lighthouse Point, Deerfield Beach, Coconut Creek, Coral Springs, Margate, Tamarac, Oakland Park, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Plantation, and Sunrise.

The team also serves Palm Beach County, from Boca Raton and Delray Beach to West Palm Beach, as well as clients throughout South Florida. Family co-owners often live in different places, so the firm works with clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who hold interests in South Florida companies and real estate.

Talk With a Pompano Beach Family Business Attorney

When a relative or old friend becomes an adversary over a company you built together, the sooner you get advice, the more options you keep. A Pompano Beach family business attorney at the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can review your agreements, explain your rights, and help you decide whether to negotiate, mediate, or go to court.

Call the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team to schedule a consultation about your family business dispute.