Tamarac LLC Member Dispute Attorney

An LLC member dispute is rarely about one bad day; it is usually about a document nobody reread until the relationship fell apart. The operating agreement, and what it says about voting, buyouts, and exits, often decides the outcome before anyone files a pleading. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team handles business and real estate litigation for owners in and around Tamarac and throughout Broward County and Palm Beach County, and as a Tamarac LLC member dispute attorney team, we represent members, managers, and minority owners whose companies have stalled, split, or been drained.

Tamarac owners often hold interests in LLCs that own rental property, run service businesses, or sit on commercial parcels along the Broward corridors. When co-members stop agreeing, the questions come fast. Who controls the bank account? Can a member be removed? What is a buyout worth? Is someone moving company money? Each of those questions has a different legal path, and choosing the wrong one early can cost leverage you cannot get back.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for an LLC Dispute

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents business owners, investors, and families in South Florida’s most difficult business and real estate disputes, serving clients in Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and throughout Broward County and Palm Beach County. Andrew M. Schwartz, the firm’s founder, has spent 37 years in litigation, was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989, and has built his career 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.

Sundeep Nath, Senior Counsel, is 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 your matter knows the file, and a strict 24 hour return call policy applies when an attorney is in court. We are experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as courtroom litigation, and we look for the resolution that fits your goals and budget rather than stretching a case out for its own sake.

Results at trial matter in disputes that hinge on contract wording. After a 5-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. That kind of detailed, document-driven trial work is what LLC disputes demand.

Common Disputes Between LLC Members

• Deadlock Between Equal Members: Two 50 percent members who cannot agree on a major decision can freeze the company. Florida law treats an unbreakable deadlock that threatens irreparable injury to the LLC as a ground for judicial dissolution, and some operating agreements contain their own deadlock sale mechanism that can take priority.
• Breach of the Operating Agreement: Members sue over missed capital contributions, unauthorized transfers of interests, ignored voting requirements, and violations of non-compete or transfer restrictions. These cases turn on exact language and on how the members actually behaved.
• Breach of Fiduciary Duty: A manager or controlling member who self-deals, diverts opportunities, or favors personal interests over the company can face claims for damages and an accounting.
• Missing or Diverted Funds: Unpaid distributions, commingled accounts, and managers who cannot explain where money went are common triggers. We pursue accountings and recovery, and seek emergency relief when assets are being moved.
• Minority Member Oppression: Minority owners get frozen out of information, shut out of distributions, or diluted. Remedies can include a court-ordered purchase of the petitioning member’s interest or dissolution.
• Valuation and Buyout Fights: Even when everyone agrees someone should leave, the price is contested. Valuation method, discounts, and the date of valuation can swing the number dramatically.
• Real Property Held by the LLC or Its Members: Many Tamarac LLCs exist to hold real estate. Disputes can spill into partition, title, and landlord-tenant issues alongside the member conflict.
• Family and Friend-Owned Companies: Siblings, spouses, in-laws, and longtime friends who co-own an LLC face the same legal questions with more at stake personally. We handle these with discretion while protecting your financial position.

Decisions to Make in the First Weeks of a Member Dispute

The early choices carry the most weight. Start with the operating agreement, including every amendment. If you cannot find a signed copy, say so to your lawyer immediately; if the company never adopted one, Florida’s default rules fill the gaps, and that changes the strategy.

Next, decide whether you want out, want the other member out, or want the business to keep running under new terms. Those are three different cases. A member who wants to stay needs a different set of remedies than one who wants a clean exit. Florida law gives a court several tools: it may appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing, order the purchase of a petitioning member’s interest, or dissolve the company on statutory grounds such as misappropriation or waste of assets, illegal or fraudulent conduct by controlling members, or the impracticability of operating under the agreement.

Preserve evidence now. Gather bank statements, tax returns, K-1s, capital account records, emails, texts, and any written approvals. Do not take company records you are not entitled to, and do not delete anything. If money is leaving the company, tell your lawyer right away; emergency injunctive relief exists to stop assets from being moved or spent while the case is pending, but it depends on moving quickly and documenting the facts.

Watch the clock. A claim founded on a written instrument, such as an operating agreement, carries a five-year limitations period in Florida, while claims not founded on a written instrument carry four years. Fraud claims run four years from discovery with an outer cap of 12 years. A request for specific performance has a one-year period. Because different claims in one dispute can carry different deadlines, waiting to see whether things improve can quietly forfeit part of your case.

Finally, avoid the common mistakes: confronting the other member by text with admissions, cutting off the company’s cash without legal advice, or signing a “temporary” agreement that rewrites control. Talk to counsel before changing the status quo.

Where Tamarac LLC Disputes Are Heard

Tamarac sits in Broward County, which falls within the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit. Business cases above the county court limit are filed in circuit court, and the Seventeenth Circuit maintains complex business divisions that handle, among other things, dissolution of certain business entities and large business litigation. Broward civil matters are heard at the Central Judicial Complex in Fort Lauderdale and at regional courthouses in Deerfield Beach, Hollywood, and Plantation. Cases involving federal claims or diversity between parties in different states can proceed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, which holds court in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.

Where the dispute reaches Palm Beach County, such as when an LLC’s property or a co-member sits there, the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit hears the case. Many agreements also route disputes to mediation or arbitration first, and we review those clauses early because they control forum, timing, and cost.

Partition, Title, and Real Estate Overlaps

When the LLC’s main asset is real estate, a member dispute can become a property dispute. If co-owners hold land directly rather than through the company, Florida allows a partition action in chancery, in which the court divides the property or, when division would prejudice the owners, orders a sale at public auction and splits the proceeds by ownership share. A court appoints three commissioners to evaluate whether the land can fairly be divided. Where title is clouded or competing claims exist, a quiet title action can clear it. We handle both alongside the member litigation so the strategies do not conflict.

Frequently Asked Questions About LLC Member Disputes

Can I sue another member of my LLC in Florida?

Yes. Members can bring claims for breach of the operating agreement, breach of fiduciary duty, an accounting, and other relief, sometimes on behalf of the company and sometimes in their own right. The proper claim depends on who was harmed.

Can a court dissolve my LLC?

A circuit court can order dissolution in a proceeding by a member or manager on specific grounds, including unlawful conduct of the company’s affairs, impracticability of operating under the agreement, illegal or fraudulent conduct by controlling members, misappropriation or waste of assets, or an unbreakable deadlock threatening irreparable injury.

What is a deadlock sale provision?

It is a clause in an operating agreement that lets deadlocked members trigger a buy-sell process. If one is started before the court finds deadlock grounds, it can apply instead of judicial dissolution or a court-ordered buyout, as long as it is carried through.

Can a court force a buyout instead of dissolving the company?

In a dissolution proceeding, a court may order the purchase of a petitioning member’s interest, and in some cases appoint a receiver or custodian after notice and a hearing. These alternatives can preserve a working business.

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

Claims founded on a written instrument have a five-year period in Florida. Oral or implied contract claims have four years, and fraud has four years from discovery, subject to a 12-year outer limit. Other claims in the same dispute can have shorter periods.

Can I be removed from my own LLC?

It depends on the operating agreement. Many include expulsion, dissociation, or forced-sale provisions, and Florida law offers remedies for serious misconduct. Removal without following the agreement’s process can itself be challenged.

What if the other member is spending company money right now?

Courts can grant temporary injunctive relief and, where warranted, appoint a receiver or custodian. Speed and documentation matter, so bring bank records and evidence of the transfers to your lawyer promptly.

My LLC never had a written operating agreement. Do I still have a case?

Yes. Florida’s default LLC statute governs when the agreement is silent, and course of dealing, emails, and tax filings can establish ownership and expectations. These cases tend to be more fact-intensive.

I live in New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut. Can you handle a Tamarac LLC dispute for me?

Yes. We regularly represent out-of-state owners with South Florida business interests, handle the local court appearances, and keep you informed so you do not need to travel for every hearing.

Will my case have to go to trial?

Not necessarily. Many member disputes resolve through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, often through a buyout or structured separation. We prepare every case as if it may be tried, which tends to improve settlement terms.

Do you work with other attorneys on these cases?

Yes. A significant part of our practice comes from referrals by other lawyers, including out-of-state counsel and Florida attorneys who do not handle business litigation. We keep referring counsel informed throughout.

Can a related partition or title problem be handled in the same engagement?

Often yes. When an LLC dispute involves co-owned real estate, we address partition or quiet title claims alongside the member claims so the positions stay consistent.

Serving Tamarac and Broward County Business Owners

We represent LLC members in Tamarac and across Broward County, including Sunrise, Plantation, Lauderhill, Lauderdale Lakes, North Lauderdale, Coconut Creek, Margate, Coral Springs, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Davie, Weston, and Hollywood. Our reach continues north into Palm Beach County, where we serve owners in Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, West Palm Beach, and neighboring communities.

Many of our clients do not live in Florida at all. Owners in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with a South Florida co-member or property rely on us for member disputes, business divorces, partition actions, and related real estate litigation across the region.

Talk With a Tamarac LLC Member Dispute Lawyer

If your co-member is blocking decisions, withholding money, or refusing to honor the operating agreement, the earlier you get advice, the more options you keep. Call the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team to discuss your situation with a Tamarac LLC member dispute lawyer who will review your agreement, explain your remedies, and recommend a path that fits your goals and your budget.