Tamarac Real Estate Litigation Attorney

Property disputes in Tamarac tend to arrive in the form of a decision: file suit now, try to buy out a co-owner, or hold the line on a closing that someone is refusing to complete. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team is a business and real estate litigation firm serving Tamarac and the rest of Broward County, along with Palm Beach County and clients across South Florida, and it handles the kinds of disputes that make those decisions necessary.

A Tamarac real estate litigation attorney is rarely brought in over a simple disagreement. The cases are usually about a contract that one side will not perform, a house or investment property that co-owners cannot agree to keep or sell, a cloud on title that blocks a sale, or a landlord and tenant fight that has outgrown a polite letter. Each of these runs on its own statute, its own deadline, and its own remedy, and picking the wrong one can cost a client the claim altogether.

What separates real estate litigation from a general business dispute is that the object of the fight is land, and Florida courts treat land differently. A judge can order a seller to convey a property, split a property between owners, sell it at auction, or declare who holds title. Those are remedies money damages cannot replace, and they come with short clocks that surprise people who assume they have years to act.

Why Tamarac Property Owners Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for Real Estate Disputes

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents business owners, investors, and families in South Florida’s difficult business and real estate disputes, serving clients in Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and throughout Broward and Palm Beach Counties. Andrew M. He earned his undergraduate degree at Emory University in 1986 and his law degree at the University of Miami in 1989. His career has been built around complex contract disputes, business divorces, and conflicts between partners, LLC members, and shareholders, which is exactly the terrain where real estate fights over jointly held property tend to start.

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 legal team, so everyone assigned to a matter knows the file and can answer when a client calls, and it keeps a strict 24 hour return call policy when attorneys are in court. The attorneys are experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as courtroom litigation, and they look for the resolution that fits a client’s goals and budget rather than stretching a case out.

On the real estate side, the most relevant proof is a recent trial result. After a five-day bench trial, a Broward County Circuit Court judge issued a 32-page final judgment awarding the firm’s client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. That outcome reflects how this firm approaches property cases: close reading of the contract, a thorough record of how the parties dealt with one another, and the willingness to try the case when negotiation does not produce a fair result. The firm also takes referrals from other attorneys, including out-of-state lawyers whose clients own Florida property, and handles local court appearances for clients who live in New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut.

Real Estate Disputes the Firm Litigates for Tamarac Owners, Investors, and Landlords

• Failed Closings and Purchase Contract Breaches: A buyer who walks away, a seller who accepts a better offer, or a deposit dispute can all lead to litigation. Remedies include damages, return of a deposit, or an order compelling the sale to close, and each carries a different deadline.
• Specific Performance Claims: When a property is unique, a court can order the seller to deliver it rather than simply pay damages. Florida gives only one year to file this kind of action, which makes early evaluation essential.
• Partition Actions: Co-owners who cannot agree on a shared property can ask the court to divide it or order it sold. These cases involve former business partners, siblings who inherited a home, unmarried couples, and investors who want out.
• Quiet Title and Title Disputes: Competing ownership claims, a conveyance that should be cancelled, or an old recorded instrument that clouds a sale can be resolved by a court judgment declaring who holds title.
• Commercial Lease Disputes: Rent defaults, lease interpretation fights, and termination disagreements between landlords and commercial tenants often turn on the exact language of the lease and the history of the parties’ dealings.
• Residential Landlord and Tenant Matters: Nonpayment, lease violations, and terminations of month-to-month tenancies follow statutory notice rules that must be followed precisely before a landlord can seek possession.
• Co-Owner Disputes Among Family and Partners: When a property is held by an LLC or a corporation and the owners are deadlocked, the real estate problem is also a business divorce, and the two have to be handled together.
• Emergency Injunctions: When property is about to be transferred, encumbered, or damaged while a case is pending, the firm can seek temporary or permanent injunctive relief to hold the status quo.

What to Do and Where to Go When a Property Dispute Is Heading Toward Court

Start by collecting the paper that defines the deal: the signed contract and every amendment, the deed and any recorded instruments, the operating agreement if an entity owns the property, the lease, closing statements, and the emails and texts that show what each side said and did. Real estate cases are won on documents and on timing, and the single most useful thing a property owner can do before calling a lawyer is gather these in one place and stop discussing the dispute in writing with the other side.

Deadlines deserve attention immediately. A claim on a written contract generally has a five-year limit in Florida, while a contract claim that is not based on a written instrument has four years, a fraud claim has four years from discovery with an outer cap of twelve, and an action seeking specific performance has just one year. A suit to recover real property can also be barred if neither the plaintiff nor a predecessor held possession within the prior seven years. Because the one-year period can be the shortest and the most consequential, anyone who wants a court to force a sale to close should speak with counsel promptly rather than waiting out a negotiation.

Landlords and tenants face their own strict notice rules. For unpaid rent, a landlord must deliver a written demand and wait three days, not counting weekends and court-observed legal holidays, before terminating. For other violations that can be cured, the notice must give seven days to fix the problem, and for violations that cannot be cured, a seven-day notice of intent to terminate applies. A landlord who accepts partial rent after posting a notice does not give up the right to proceed, but must handle the partial payment correctly by giving a receipt, placing it in the court registry, or serving a new notice. Errors in these notices are among the most common reasons an eviction case fails.

As for where cases are heard, the dollar amount and the type of relief decide the court. County court hears claims with an amount in controversy up to the statutory ceiling, while circuit court takes larger claims and cases seeking remedies like partition, quiet title, injunctions, and specific performance. Tamarac sits in Broward County, which is in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, and the circuit has a complex business division that handles large business and construction disputes and certain entity dissolution cases. When the parties are from different states and the amount is large enough, or when a federal question is involved, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, which sits in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, can come into play. Where a property crosses county lines, a quiet title case can be filed in any county where part of the land lies.

How Partition, Quiet Title, and Co-Ownership Fights Actually Play Out

Partition is often misunderstood as a quick way out. The case starts with a complaint that describes the land, names every owner, and states each owner’s share. If the court orders partition, it appoints three commissioners, chosen by the parties if they agree and by the court if not, to decide whether the land can be divided fairly. If the commissioners report that division would harm the owners, the court may order the property sold at public auction and split the proceeds 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 at the outset unless everyone consents otherwise.

Inherited property gets special treatment. Florida’s Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act applies to partition actions filed on or after July 1, 2020, and covers property held as tenants in common where some owners got their interests from relatives and other statutory conditions are met, such as twenty percent or more of the interests being held by relatives. When it applies, the court generally must follow the Act’s procedures, which favor partition in kind over forced sale unless the commissioners find that dividing the land would prejudice the owners as a group. Families in Tamarac who inherited a house together should know that these protections can change the outcome of a case.

Quiet title is a different tool. A court with equity jurisdiction can determine who holds title where two or more people claim the same land, and can cancel a conveyance or other record that clouds title when someone who is not the rightful owner holds it. The plaintiff must trace title back at least seven years before filing unless the court orders otherwise. Adverse possession, which can underlie these disputes, requires seven years of actual, continuous possession under a claim of title, and a claimant relying on color of title must have recorded the underlying instrument with the circuit court clerk in the county where the land sits. These claims turn on facts and records, not on how long someone has simply lived on a property.

When a property is owned through an entity, a real estate fight can become a dissolution fight. A member of an LLC can ask a circuit court to dissolve the company on grounds such as deadlock that threatens irreparable injury, misappropriated or wasted assets, illegal conduct by those in control, or the impracticability of carrying on the business under its governing documents. The court can appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing, or order a buyout of the petitioning member. For corporations, a shareholder petition can lead to the corporation or other shareholders electing to purchase the petitioner’s shares at fair value, with a 60-day window for the parties to agree on price and terms before the court steps in. If an operating or shareholder agreement has a deadlock sale provision, it may take priority if properly initiated.

Questions Tamarac Property Owners Ask About Real Estate Litigation

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

A claim founded on a written contract generally must be filed within five years, and one not based on a written instrument has four years. These periods apply to causes of action arising after the 2023 amendments just as before for contract claims, since those amendments did not change the written-contract period. A specific performance action, however, has only one year, so the type of relief you want changes the clock.

Can a court really force a seller to complete a sale?

Yes. Because real property is treated as unique, a court can order specific performance and require the seller to convey the property on the contract terms. The firm recently obtained this kind of result after a five-day bench trial in Broward County. The one-year filing period makes early action important.

What is a partition action and when is it the right move?

Partition asks the court to divide jointly owned property or, when division is not practical, to sell it and distribute the proceeds. It fits situations where co-owners are deadlocked, such as former business partners, siblings who inherited a home, or unmarried couples. It is usually worth discussing buyout or negotiation first, but partition gives an owner a guaranteed exit.

Does a partition always end in a forced sale?

No. The court appoints commissioners to determine whether the land can be divided without harming the owners, and a sale is ordered only if they report that it cannot. For inherited property covered by the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act, the standards tilt further toward keeping the property in the family unless partition in kind would prejudice the owners as a group.

What is a quiet title action?

It is a lawsuit asking the court to declare who owns a property and to remove competing claims or cancel a conveyance that clouds title. The plaintiff generally has to trace title back at least seven years. It is often the only way to clear a title problem that is blocking a sale or refinancing.

How does adverse possession work in Florida?

Without color of title, a claimant must show seven years of actual, continuous possession under a claim of title exclusive of others, and must file a return with a full legal description with the property appraiser. With color of title, the instrument must be recorded with the circuit court clerk in the county where the land lies. It is a demanding standard that is frequently not met.

My co-owner and I own property through an LLC and cannot agree. Is partition still available?

Typically not, because the entity, not the individuals, owns the property. The path is usually through the operating agreement and Florida’s LLC statute, which allows judicial dissolution for deadlock threatening irreparable injury, misappropriation of assets, or other listed grounds. If your agreement has a deadlock sale provision, that process may need to be followed first.

What happens if a tenant stops paying rent?

The landlord delivers a written demand for payment or possession and must wait three days, not counting weekends and court-observed legal holidays, before the lease can be terminated. If the landlord takes partial rent afterward, the notice rules require careful handling, though acceptance of partial rent does not waive the right to proceed.

Should I hire a lawyer for a smaller property dispute?

If the amount is within small claims range, many people handle it themselves. Once a dispute involves title, a contract with significant value, or a remedy like partition or an injunction, the procedural rules and the risk of missing a deadline make counsel worth the cost. A short consultation can tell you whether the case justifies full litigation or a negotiated outcome.

I live in New York or New Jersey but own property near Tamarac. Can the firm handle this without me traveling?

Yes. The firm regularly represents clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who own Florida real estate or have partners here. The attorneys handle the local court appearances and keep you informed through scheduled calls, so you do not need to travel for every hearing.

Do real estate disputes always go to trial?

No. Many resolve through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, and the attorneys are experienced in all three. The firm pursues the route most likely to meet your goals efficiently, and prepares every case as though it may be tried.

Serving Real Estate Litigation Clients Across Tamarac and Broward County

The firm represents property owners and investors in Tamarac and throughout Broward County, including neighboring Lauderhill, Sunrise, Plantation, Coral Springs, Margate, Coconut Creek, Lauderdale Lakes, North Lauderdale, Oakland Park, Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Parkland, Davie, Weston, and Hollywood. Whether the dispute involves a condominium in a Tamarac community, an investment property held with a former partner, or a commercial parcel along a county corridor, the same Broward courts and the same Florida statutes apply.

The firm’s work extends north into Palm Beach County, including Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Wellington, West Palm Beach, and Palm Beach Gardens, and it serves clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who hold real estate or business interests anywhere in South Florida. Co-owners are often spread across both counties, and a property dispute that starts in Tamarac can involve parties, records, or entities elsewhere in the region.

Speak With a Tamarac Real Estate Litigation Lawyer Before a Deadline Decides the Case

Whether you are trying to enforce a contract, get out of a shared property, clear a cloud on title, or respond to a suit someone has already filed, the right first move depends on facts, documents, and a calendar that may be shorter than you think. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team offers the hands-on attention of a small firm with decades of South Florida litigation behind it.

If you need a Tamarac real estate litigation lawyer, call the firm to discuss your situation and learn which options and deadlines apply to you. Calls are returned within 24 hours when the attorneys are in court, and the team can arrange a scheduled conference at a time that works for you.