South Florida Quiet Title Attorney

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents property owners, investors, heirs, and former business partners across Palm Beach County and Broward County who need a court to settle who actually owns a piece of real estate. A South Florida quiet title attorney is usually called in when a recorded deed, a forgotten lien, a competing family claim, or a botched transfer has left a cloud over ownership that no one can clear by agreement.

Those clouds tend to surface at the worst moments: a buyer’s title company refuses to insure, a lender will not refinance, or a co-owner suddenly claims an interest the records do not seem to support. Florida gives property owners a specific court procedure for resolving these disputes, and the way that case is built, from the chain of title to the choice of defendants, often decides whether it ends in a clean judgment or an expensive detour.

What a Quiet Title Judgment Actually Fixes

A quiet title action asks a circuit court to declare, against everyone who might claim an interest, who holds title to the land. Florida’s chancery statute gives courts authority over suits by anyone claiming legal or equitable title, including cases where two or more people claim the same land through a common source. The statute also allows a complaint aimed at cancelling a deed or other evidence of title held by someone who is not the rightful owner, which removes the cloud from the record.

Venue is flexible in one useful way: the complaint may be filed in any county where any part of the land sits. For most of our clients that means the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit for Palm Beach County or the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit for Broward County, depending on where the parcel lies.

A plaintiff generally has to trace title back at least seven years before filing unless the court orders otherwise. That requirement is where many do-it-yourself filings stall, because gaps in the chain, unreleased mortgages, and unrecorded transfers have to be identified and accounted for. When a claim rests on an allegedly fraudulent attempted conveyance, Florida’s statutes provide for summary procedure and direct the court to advance the case on its calendar, which can matter when a sale or refinance is waiting on the outcome.

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

The Andrew M. Founder Andrew M. Schwartz has spent 37 years in litigation and has practiced in Florida since being admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989. He holds an undergraduate degree from Emory University and a law degree from the University of Miami. The firm serves clients in Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and throughout Palm Beach County and Broward County, as well as clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who hold property or business interests here.

Andrew 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 works as a true legal team, so everyone on a file knows it, and it keeps a strict 24 hour return call policy when attorneys are in court. Title cases often involve out-of-state heirs or investors, and the firm handles the local court appearances so those clients do not have to travel for every hearing. Many matters also arrive as referrals from other attorneys, and we keep referring counsel informed throughout.

Real estate litigation proof matters in a field where the paper record controls everything. After a 5-day bench trial, a Broward County circuit judge issued a 32-page final judgment granting our client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. That outcome came from the same discipline title work demands: close attention to the wording of the documents and the history of the parties’ dealings.

Situations That Lead to Quiet Title and Related Property Claims

• Clouded Title After a Business Breakup: When partners or LLC members split, property held in one person’s name, or transferred without authority, can leave competing claims. Quiet title may run alongside claims for breach of an operating agreement or fiduciary duty.
• Inherited Property With Unclear Ownership: Siblings and extended family who inherit together may hold undivided interests, with missing heirs or informal handshake arrangements complicating the record.
• Fraudulent or Defective Conveyances: Forged signatures, transfers made without authority, and deeds recorded to strip an owner’s interest can be challenged under Florida’s quiet title statutes, including the summary procedure available for fraudulent attempted conveyances.
• Adverse Possession Claims: A claimant must show continuous possession for seven years under a claim of title. Without color of title, the claim cannot rest on a written instrument, and the claimant must file a return with the property appraiser that includes a full legal description. With color of title, the instrument must have been recorded with the clerk in the county where the land sits.
• Old Liens, Mortgages, and Unreleased Interests: Satisfied loans that were never released of record, and stale claims by former lenders or contractors, can block a sale until a court clears them.
• Co-Owner Deadlocks Requiring Partition: When owners cannot agree what to do with shared property, partition under Chapter 64 may be the better tool, either dividing the land or ordering a sale and dividing the proceeds.
• Heirs Property: Family-held tenancies in common may fall under Florida’s Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act, which adds protections before a court can order a sale.
• Competing Contract Claims to Real Estate: Failed closings and disputed purchase contracts can produce competing ownership claims, sometimes resolved through specific performance rather than a title suit alone.

What to Do Once You Discover a Cloud on Title

Start by getting the record in front of you. Pull the deed history and any recorded mortgages, liens, and lis pendens from the Clerk of Court’s official records for the county where the parcel sits, and order a title search or title commitment if you do not already have one. Gather your own paper: closing statements, surveys, estate documents, operating agreements if a business entity held the property, and any correspondence in which someone acknowledged or disputed ownership. Note exactly who is in possession of the property and who has been paying taxes, insurance, and maintenance, because those facts drive both quiet title and adverse possession disputes.

Resist the urge to sign a quitclaim deed or “fix” the record informally with the other side before you understand the dispute. A quitclaim can give up rights you did not intend to surrender. Likewise, do not record corrective documents on your own without advice, since a poorly drafted instrument can add another cloud rather than remove one.

Timing matters in several ways. Florida bars suits to recover real property unless the plaintiff or a predecessor held possession within seven years before filing, which is why long absences from a property deserve attention. A suit to compel specific performance of a contract has a one-year period, and contract claims founded on a written instrument have a five-year period. Which clock applies depends on how your claim is framed, so identify the deadlines early rather than assuming you have time.

Quiet title cases for Palm Beach County property are heard in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, with the main circuit civil court in West Palm Beach. Broward County property falls under the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, with circuit civil in Fort Lauderdale. Where a title fight is tangled up with a business dissolution, Broward has a complex business division that handles dissolution of certain business entities and large business litigation, and a case can be directed there only through the procedure set by that circuit’s administrative order. If emergency relief is needed to stop a sale, a transfer, or a further encumbrance while the case is pending, we can seek temporary or permanent injunctive relief alongside the title claim.

When Title Trouble Is Really a Partnership or Ownership Dispute

Many of the quiet title matters we see are symptoms of a broken ownership relationship rather than a stray recording error. A property held in an LLC may be the real prize in a business divorce, and the title question cannot be answered without addressing who controls the company. Florida’s LLC statute lets members seek judicial dissolution on grounds that include deadlock that threatens irreparable injury, misappropriation or waste of assets, and conduct by controlling members that is illegal or fraudulent. In those proceedings a court may appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing, or order a buyout of the petitioning member’s interest.

Corporations have parallel remedies. Where a shareholder petitions for dissolution, the corporation or other shareholders may elect to purchase the petitioner’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 on those terms. These buyout paths often serve a client better than a forced liquidation of the real estate, and we evaluate them next to the title claim.

Partition is the other common companion. Under Chapter 64, a partition case names the owners and describes the land, and if the court finds the property cannot be divided fairly, it can order a sale and distribute the proceeds in proportion to each owner’s interest. Where the property qualifies as heirs property, the court must follow the heirs property procedures unless all cotenants agree otherwise, including a process designed to give cotenants a chance to buy out a seller before a forced sale. Choosing between quiet title, partition, a buyout, or a combination is a strategic decision worth making before anything is filed.

Quiet Title Questions We Hear From South Florida Owners

What is a quiet title action?

It is a lawsuit asking a court to determine who owns real property and to bind everyone who might claim an interest in it. A successful judgment removes competing claims from the record so the owner can sell, finance, or insure the property without a cloud.

When do I need to file one instead of just correcting a deed?

If the other party agrees and signs, a corrective instrument may be enough. When someone disputes your ownership, cannot be found, is deceased with unclear heirs, or recorded a document you believe is invalid, a corrective deed will not bind them. A court judgment will.

Which court hears a quiet title case for South Florida property?

These are circuit court cases heard in chancery. Property in Palm Beach County is handled by the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit and property in Broward County by the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit. The complaint may be filed in any county where part of the land is located.

How far back does title have to be traced?

Florida requires the plaintiff to deraign title for at least seven years before filing, unless the court orders otherwise. In practice, a thorough search often goes further back when the chain is disputed.

Can someone take my property by adverse possession in Florida?

It is possible but demanding. The claimant must prove actual, continuous possession for seven years under a claim of title exclusive of any other right, and must satisfy the filing and return requirements. Claims under color of title also require that the underlying instrument was recorded in the county where the land lies. Regular, documented ownership activity by the true owner is a strong defense.

Is there a deadline to sue over a fraudulent deed?

Deadlines depend on the claim. Fraud actions run four years from discovery, subject to an outer limit of 12 years, while an action to recover real property is barred unless the plaintiff or a predecessor possessed it within the preceding seven years. Because overlapping clocks can apply, treat any suspected fraudulent transfer as urgent.

Can I stop a sale while a title dispute is pending?

Often, yes. A court can issue temporary or permanent injunctive relief to preserve property and prevent it from being sold, transferred, or encumbered while the case is decided. Emergency relief depends on the facts and must be pursued promptly.

What if my co-owner and I just want out of the property?

That is typically a partition case rather than quiet title. A court can divide the property or, when division is impractical, order a sale and distribute proceeds according to each owner’s share. Negotiated buyouts and mediation are frequently faster and cheaper than a court-ordered auction.

Does a title dispute among relatives work differently?

It can. If the property is held as a tenancy in common, with no binding agreement on partition, and at least some interests came from relatives under conditions the statute lists, the heirs property rules may apply. Those rules change how appraisal, buyout rights, and the sale process work.

Can I hire your firm if I live in New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut?

Yes. We regularly represent out-of-state owners and heirs with South Florida property. We handle local filings and court appearances and keep you updated, so most clients do not need to travel for hearings.

Will every title dispute end up in a trial?

No. Many are resolved through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, or through a stipulated judgment once the facts are documented. We pursue the route most likely to clear title efficiently, while preparing the case as though it could be tried.

Serving Property Owners Across Palm Beach and Broward Counties

We represent clients throughout Palm Beach County, from Boca Raton, Delray Beach, and Boynton Beach to Lake Worth Beach, Wellington, West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, Royal Palm Beach, and Belle Glade. In Broward County, we work with owners in Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Coral Springs, Parkland, Plantation, Sunrise, Hollywood, Davie, and the surrounding communities.

Because quiet title cases are filed where the land is located, and because many of our clients own investment property or inherited shares from elsewhere, we also work with owners from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who hold interests across South Florida. Whether the parcel is a single-family home, a commercial building, or a piece of land held through an LLC, we take on the title, partition, and related business claims together.

Speak With a South Florida Quiet Title Lawyer About Your Property

If a deed, lien, or competing claim is keeping you from selling, refinancing, or controlling your property, call the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team to talk through the record and your options. Our quiet title attorneys will review the chain of title, identify the deadlines that apply, and recommend whether a quiet title suit, a partition, an injunction, or a negotiated resolution best fits your goals and budget. Contact us to schedule a consultation.