Sunrise Real Estate Litigation Attorney

Real estate disputes arising in Sunrise are filed in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, which sits in and for Broward County, and many of them turn on a single document: a purchase contract, a deed, a lease, or the operating agreement of the company that holds the property. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team handles contested real estate matters for owners, investors, landlords, and co-owners in Sunrise and across Broward and Palm Beach Counties, and a Sunrise real estate litigation attorney from our firm approaches each file by reading that paper trail first.

The disputes that bring people to us are rarely abstract. A buyer’s closing collapses and the seller lists the property elsewhere. Two heirs cannot agree whether to keep or sell a house. A former business partner’s name remains on title to a building the other partner has been paying for. A cloud on title blocks a refinance or sale. Each of these has its own statute, its own clock, and its own set of remedies, and choosing the wrong one can cost a client the claim entirely.

The deadlines alone make early analysis worth the effort. A claim on a written contract has five years in Florida, but an action seeking specific performance of a contract carries a one-year period, a gap that catches buyers and sellers who assume they have the longer window. Sorting out which clock applies, and when it started, is often the first real task in a Sunrise property dispute.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for Real Estate Litigation

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents business owners, investors, and families in South Florida business and real estate disputes, serving Sunrise, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, and the rest of Broward and Palm Beach Counties. 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, partner and member conflicts, and property disagreements. He earned his undergraduate degree from Emory University in 1986 and his law degree from the University of Miami in 1989.

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 a market where a property dispute can land in Broward circuit court or, when the parties and claims support it, the Southern District of Florida.

The firm practices as a true legal team, meaning everyone working on a matter knows the file and can answer when a client calls. We keep a strict 24 hour return call policy when we are in court, and our attorneys are experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as trial work. Our approach is to look for the resolution that fits the client’s goals and budget rather than stretching a case out for its own sake.

The results reflect that preparation. After a five-day bench trial, a Broward County Circuit Court issued a 32-page final judgment awarding our client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. Obtaining a court order that forces a transaction to close, rather than a damages award in its place, is the kind of outcome that depends on careful work with the contract language and the parties’ history of dealing. A significant part of our practice also comes from referrals by other attorneys, including out of state lawyers whose clients own property here.

Types of Real Estate Disputes We Litigate for Sunrise Owners and Investors

• Failed Closings and Purchase Contract Disputes: Buyers who want the property they contracted for and sellers who want to enforce a deposit forfeiture both end up in the same place, a fight over what the contract actually required. Specific performance, damages, and rescission each carry different limitations periods, so the remedy sought shapes the whole case.
• Partition Actions: Co-owners who cannot agree can ask the circuit court to divide the property or order it sold, with proceeds split by ownership share. These cases involve former business partners, siblings who inherited a home, unmarried couples, and investors leaving a shared deal.
• Heirs Property: When property is held as tenants in common and some owners acquired their interests from relatives, Florida’s Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act can change how a partition proceeds, favoring buyouts and protecting family members from a forced sale.
• Quiet Title and Title Disputes: A recorded deed, lien, or competing ownership claim can freeze a sale or refinance. A quiet title action asks the court to determine ownership and remove the cloud, and it can be filed in any county where part of the land sits.
• Landlord and Tenant Disputes: Nonpayment, lease violations, and termination notices follow strict statutory timing. A notice that is defective or mis-timed can undo an otherwise valid eviction, and accepting partial rent without following the statute’s procedures creates its own problems.
• Co-Owner and Partner Property Conflicts: When a building is held through an LLC or partnership, the property fight is often a business divorce in disguise, involving diverted rents, unpaid distributions, or a partner who refuses to sell.
• Injunctions and Emergency Relief: When a property is about to be transferred, encumbered, or damaged, a temporary or permanent injunction can preserve the status quo while the dispute is resolved.
• Commercial Lease and Construction Contract Disputes: Disagreements over rent, build-outs, defaults, and payment under construction agreements frequently turn on the exact wording of the document and the course of dealing between the parties.

What to Do When a Property Dispute Is Heading Toward Court

Start by gathering the paper. The contract, any amendments, the deed, closing statements, lease, operating agreement, and every email or text that touches the disagreement belong in one place before anyone files anything. Disputes over what was promised are won on documents, and the version of events a client remembers rarely matches the record as well as the client expects.

Next, identify which deadline governs. A claim founded on a written contract has five years, while an oral or implied agreement has four. A suit to rescind has four years, fraud has four years from discovery with an outer limit of twelve, and specific performance carries one year. Negligence claims, which sometimes accompany property disputes involving professionals, are now limited to two years for causes of action arising after the 2023 amendments. If you are weighing whether to wait and see whether the other side relents, check the clock before you decide.

Where possible, avoid changing the facts on the ground. Do not move out, change locks, sign a new agreement, or accept payment on terms that conflict with your position without understanding what each step does to your claim. In landlord matters, for example, accepting partial rent after serving a nonpayment notice requires specific follow-up, such as a receipt stating the balance due or a fresh notice, or the landlord invites a defense. Holding the rent in the court registry at filing is another option the statute recognizes. If property or money may be moved, say so early. Emergency injunctive relief is only useful if it is requested before the asset is gone.

On venue, a dispute over Sunrise property is ordinarily heard in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit in Broward County. Cases above the county court threshold go to circuit court, and Broward also has a complex business division that handles business entity dissolutions and large business and construction litigation, with a direct filing procedure set out in the circuit’s administrative order. Federal court in Fort Lauderdale is available only when jurisdictional requirements are met. If the dispute spans counties, as many do for investors holding property in both Broward and Palm Beach, we can advise on where each claim belongs.

Partition, Heirs Property, and Quiet Title in Broward County

Partition is the remedy most co-owners reach for once negotiation fails, and the process is more structured than clients expect. Every partition action in Florida is brought in the circuit court sitting in equity. The complaint must describe the land, name the owners and where they live, state each owner’s share, and include whatever else the court needs to decide the parties’ rights. If the court enters a judgment of partition, it appoints three commissioners, chosen by the court unless the parties agree on who they should be.

If the commissioners report that dividing the property would prejudice the owners, the court may order a sale at public auction, with proceeds divided in proportion to each owner’s interest. A sale on credit is possible for good cause, but at least one-third of the price must be paid down unless every party consents to different terms. Heirs property follows a different path. If the court finds that property qualifies, partition proceeds under the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act unless all cotenants agree otherwise in a record. Qualifying property is held as tenants in common, with at least one cotenant having acquired title from a relative, and the statute lists further conditions, one of which is that twenty percent or more of the interests are held by relatives. Partition in kind is not entered unless the court is satisfied the commissioners weighed the statutory factors and found that division would prejudice the cotenants as a group.

Quiet title is the companion remedy when the problem is not how to divide the property but who owns it. A plaintiff claiming legal or equitable title can ask the court to determine ownership, cancel a conveyance or instrument that clouds title, and enter judgment confirming the result. Plaintiffs are generally required to trace title for at least seven years before filing, unless the court orders otherwise. Quiet title claims founded on an allegedly fraudulent conveyance can proceed under a summary procedure, and the court is directed to move them forward on the calendar.

Adverse possession sometimes sits behind these disputes. Florida bars an action to recover real property unless the plaintiff or a predecessor possessed it within seven years before filing. A person claiming adverse possession without color of title must show actual, continuous possession for seven years under a claim of title exclusive of any other right, and must file a return with a full legal description of the property. Where the claim rests on a recorded instrument, different rules apply, including a requirement that the instrument be recorded in the county where the property sits.

Common Questions About Sunrise Real Estate Litigation

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

For a claim founded on a written contract, the period is five years. An oral or implied contract has four years. Specific performance, which asks the court to compel the transaction itself, has a one-year period, so a buyer who wants the property rather than money has a much shorter window to act.

Can a buyer force a seller to close in Broward County?

Yes, if the contract is enforceable and the buyer was ready and able to perform, a court can order specific performance. Our firm obtained a final judgment granting that remedy on a commercial real estate contract in Broward County after a five-day bench trial. The claim must be filed within one year.

What is a partition action, and who can file one?

A partition action is a lawsuit asking the circuit court to divide jointly owned real estate or, if division is not practical, to sell it and split the proceeds. Any co-owner can generally bring one, including former business partners, heirs, unmarried couples, and investors.

What is heirs property, and why does it matter?

Heirs property is real estate held by tenants in common where title came at least in part from relatives and no binding agreement governs partition. Florida’s heirs property statute applies in that setting and adds protections, including a preference for partition in kind over a forced sale.

Can a partition lead to the property being sold at auction?

Yes. If commissioners find the land cannot be divided without prejudice to the owners and the court agrees, the court may order a public sale to the highest bidder, with proceeds divided according to ownership shares.

What does a quiet title action accomplish?

It asks the court to decide who owns the property and to cancel or remove an instrument or claim that clouds title. It is used when competing claims block a sale, refinance, or development of the property.

My co-owner is a former business partner. Is this a real estate case or a business case?

Often it is both. If the property is held by an LLC or partnership, the dispute may involve fiduciary duty, an accounting, or dissolution of the entity in addition to title and partition claims. We handle those claims together so that a ruling in one does not undercut the other.

Which court hears a Sunrise property dispute?

Sunrise is in Broward County, so disputes are typically heard by the circuit court of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, which sits in and for Broward County. Claims within the county court’s dollar limit may be heard there, and federal court in Fort Lauderdale is an option only when jurisdictional requirements are satisfied.

My landlord accepted part of my rent after a three-day notice. Does that end the eviction?

Not automatically. A landlord does not waive the right to terminate or sue by accepting partial rent, but must follow specific steps: giving a receipt stating the date, amount, and balance due, depositing the partial rent in the court registry at filing, or serving a new notice reflecting the revised amount.

I live in New York or New Jersey and co-own property in South Florida. Do I have to travel for every hearing?

No. We regularly represent clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with real estate interests in South Florida. We handle the local court appearances and keep you informed at each stage.

Is it worth litigating, or should we try mediation first?

Many property disputes settle through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, and our attorneys are experienced in each. The right path depends on whether the other side is acting in good faith, whether assets are at risk, and what outcome you actually need.

Serving Real Estate Litigation Clients Across Sunrise and South Florida

We represent clients in Sunrise and throughout Broward County, including Plantation, Fort Lauderdale, Tamarac, Lauderhill, Coral Springs, Weston, Davie, Pembroke Pines, Hollywood, Deerfield Beach, Pompano Beach, and the communities around them. Our work also extends north into Palm Beach County, where we serve clients in Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, West Palm Beach, and neighboring towns.

Property disputes do not stop at county lines. An investor who owns a commercial building in Broward and a rental in Palm Beach, or siblings who inherited a home in one county while their family company sits in another, need counsel comfortable in both the Fifteenth and Seventeenth Circuits. We also serve out of state owners from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut whose co-owners, tenants, or business partners are in South Florida.

Talk to a Sunrise Real Estate Litigation Lawyer Before the Deadline Decides for You

If a closing has failed, a co-owner will not cooperate, or a cloud on title is holding up a sale, speak with a Sunrise real estate litigation lawyer at the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team before the limitations period narrows your options. We will review the documents, tell you which claims are available and how long you have to bring them, and recommend the path most likely to reach your goal at a cost that makes sense. Call our team to schedule a consultation.