Weston Breach of Fiduciary Duty Attorney

Weston sits in Broward County, which means a fiduciary dispute between co-owners here is filed in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, and in cases of real size it may land before a judge assigned to the circuit’s complex business division. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team handles business and real estate litigation for owners, investors, and families in Weston, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, and across Broward and Palm Beach Counties, and a large share of that work involves a Weston breach of fiduciary duty attorney representing someone whose partner, manager, or co-owner put themselves ahead of the company.

A fiduciary claim is not the same thing as a broken contract. When an owner or manager has been entrusted with control over company money, decisions, or property, the law holds that person to duties of loyalty and care that exist whether or not the operating agreement spells them out. Siphoning funds, secretly diverting a business opportunity to a side company, voting yourself compensation the other members never approved, or refusing to show the books can all cross that line. The question is rarely whether the relationship soured. It is whether someone with power over the company used it for personal gain at everyone else’s expense.

That distinction shapes everything that follows: what you plead, what you can ask a court to freeze, how long you have to act, and what a realistic recovery looks like. Weston has no shortage of closely held companies, family-run operations, and investment partnerships, and those are exactly the structures where trust substitutes for paperwork until something goes wrong.

What Separates a Fiduciary Claim From a Contract Claim

People often bring us a dispute and call it a contract problem when the stronger theory is fiduciary. The difference matters because the two claims follow different clocks and reach different remedies. A claim founded on a written instrument, such as an operating agreement or shareholder agreement, carries a five-year limitations period in Florida. A contract claim that is not founded on a written document, an oral or implied arrangement, carries four years. A fraud claim runs four years from discovery, with an outer cap of twelve years. Because a single set of facts can support several of these theories at once, choosing which to plead, and in what combination, is one of the first real decisions in the case.

Fiduciary claims also tend to open doors that a plain breach of contract does not. An accounting, for example, forces the person who controlled the money to explain where it went. Disgorgement of improper profits and recovery of diverted funds follow from the duty of loyalty rather than from the four corners of an agreement. Where the misconduct is serious, the same facts can support a request that the court dissolve the LLC, appoint a custodian, or order a buyout.

The flip side is that the other side will often argue the agreement waived or narrowed the duties, or that the conduct was disclosed and approved. Reading the operating agreement closely, alongside the history of how the parties actually behaved, is where cases like these are won or lost.

Why Weston Owners Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team

The Andrew M. Andrew M. Schwartz, the firm’s founder, 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, and his career has centered on complex contract disputes, business divorces, and conflicts among partners, LLC members, and shareholders. That is the exact ground a fiduciary claim covers.

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 here because Broward and Palm Beach Counties fall within the Southern District of Florida, and a fiduciary dispute with diversity or federal claims can end up there rather than in state court.

The firm practices as a true team, so everyone working on your file knows it and can answer when you call, and it keeps a strict 24 hour return call policy when the attorneys are in court. Clients tend to arrive expecting to want the most aggressive lawyer available. Mr. Schwartz’s view, from decades of practice, is that what clients really want is a lawyer who acts as the situation requires, uses finesse when finesse will do, and does not let legal fees outrun good sense. The firm is comfortable in mediation and arbitration as well as the courtroom, and it pursues the route that fits the client’s goals and budget.

Recent results reflect the same depth in contract-heavy disputes. After a five-day bench trial in Broward County Circuit Court, the firm obtained a 32-page final judgment awarding its client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. A case like that turns on the precise wording of an agreement and a detailed record of how the parties dealt with each other, which is also what a fiduciary case demands.

Situations That Give Rise to Fiduciary Claims

• Diverted or Missing Company Funds: A partner or manager moves money into personal accounts, pays personal expenses through the business, or cannot account for cash that should be there. Claims here include an accounting, conversion, and recovery of the funds.
• Self-Dealing and Hidden Side Ventures: An owner steers customers, contracts, or opportunities to a competing company they control, or has the business buy from or sell to an entity they secretly own.
• Majority Owners Squeezing Out Minority Members: Controlling members who cut a minority owner off from information, distributions, or decisions, or who approve their own pay while withholding profit sharing from everyone else.
• Unpaid Distributions and Disputed Capital Contributions: Profits that should have been distributed are retained or redirected, or contributions one owner made are denied or recharacterized as loans.
• Family Business Betrayals: Siblings, parents and children, or in-laws who co-own a company and disagree over control, compensation, and succession. These cases need discretion alongside firm protection of the financial interests at stake.
• Abuse of Managerial Authority in LLCs and Corporations: Managers or officers who waste assets, act illegally, or make decisions that benefit themselves over the entity, which can also supply grounds for judicial dissolution.
• Failure to Provide Books and Records: A partner who stonewalls requests to see financial statements, bank records, and tax filings, often a sign that something in those records will not hold up.
• Real Estate Held Through Shared Entities: Co-investors in property whose managing partner sells, encumbers, or mismanages the asset without proper authority.

What to Do Once You Suspect a Partner Is Acting Against the Company

Start by preserving what you already have access to. Bank statements, tax returns, operating or shareholder agreements, emails and texts about money and decisions, and company financial reports are the raw material of the case. Make copies of what you are legitimately entitled to see, and do not take or access anything you are not authorized to reach, since overstepping can hand the other side a counterclaim. If you have a right to inspect company books and records, put the request in writing so there is a clear record of the refusal if one follows.

Next, read your governing documents before you confront anyone. Many operating agreements contain buyout, expulsion, deadlock, or dispute resolution clauses, including mandatory mediation or arbitration, and these determine where and how the dispute is heard. Confronting a partner before you understand those provisions can waive rights or trigger obligations you did not know about.

Watch the calendar. The limitations periods described above start running when the claim accrues or, for fraud, when it is discovered, so waiting to see whether the problem resolves itself can quietly cost you a claim. If money is actively leaving the company, speed matters for a different reason. A court can issue a temporary injunction to stop assets from being moved or spent while the case is pending, and where misappropriation is serious, a receiver or custodian can be appointed after notice and a hearing. These tools only help if you move before the funds are gone.

On the procedural side, because Weston is in Broward County, a fiduciary lawsuit over a sum above the county court’s limit is filed in the circuit court of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit. Broward’s complex business division handles large business disputes and certain entity dissolutions, and a case can be directed there through the circuit’s filing procedure. Federal court in Fort Lauderdale is the alternative where jurisdiction exists. If the company or the other owners are in Palm Beach County, the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit and the West Palm Beach federal courthouse may come into play instead, and the firm handles proceedings in both counties.

The common mistakes are predictable: confronting the partner in writing before consulting counsel, continuing to sign company documents without reviewing them, letting months pass while evidence disappears, and assuming a handshake understanding carries the weight of a signed agreement. A short conversation with a lawyer early in the dispute tends to prevent most of them.

When a Fiduciary Dispute Reaches the Company Itself

Fiduciary misconduct does not only produce a damages claim. In an LLC, a member or manager can ask a circuit court to dissolve the company where assets are being misappropriated or wasted and injury results, where controlling members have acted or are expected to act illegally or fraudulently, or where deadlocked owners cannot break the impasse and irreparable injury to the company is threatened. In a corporation, shareholders have a parallel path under Florida’s corporate dissolution statute.

Dissolution is often a lever rather than a destination. Once a petition is filed, the court may appoint a receiver or custodian, issue injunctions, and take steps to preserve assets. In the corporate setting, the company or the other shareholders can elect to buy out the petitioning shareholder at fair value, and if the parties agree on value and terms within sixty days of the first election, the court enters an order directing the purchase. Many operating and shareholder agreements also contain their own deadlock sale mechanisms, which can displace a court-ordered result if they are initiated in time. Whether to seek a buyout, a negotiated exit, a structured wind-down, or full dissolution depends on what the business is worth, who is running it, and whether it can survive the separation.

Common Questions About Fiduciary Duty Claims in Weston

What is a fiduciary duty in a business?

It is a legal obligation to put the company’s and co-owners’ interests ahead of your own when you hold control over their money, property, or decisions. Managers, managing members, officers, directors, and general partners commonly owe these duties. The specifics depend on the type of entity and what the governing documents say.

How do I know if my partner breached a fiduciary duty or just made a bad decision?

Poor judgment alone is generally not a breach. The line is crossed when the person acts disloyally, such as self-dealing, concealing information, diverting funds or opportunities, or putting personal gain ahead of the company. Documents and financial records usually reveal which one you are dealing with.

How long do I have to file a breach of fiduciary duty claim in Florida?

It depends on how the claim is framed. A claim founded on a written instrument carries five years, an oral or implied contract claim carries four, and fraud runs four years from discovery with a twelve-year outer limit. Because these can overlap, speak with an attorney promptly rather than guessing which applies.

Can I recover money my partner took from the company?

Often yes. Remedies can include an accounting, recovery of diverted funds, disgorgement of profits earned through the breach, and damages. Where funds are still moving, a court may issue emergency relief to freeze them while the case proceeds.

Can a court stop my partner from spending company money while the case is pending?

Yes. Florida courts can grant temporary and permanent injunctions, including emergency relief, to protect company assets and property. The firm regularly seeks this kind of early relief when delay would let assets disappear.

Do I need to show my operating agreement to a lawyer first?

Bring it, along with any amendments, because it often controls the forum, any required mediation or arbitration, buyout rights, and what duties were modified or waived. The facts of how the owners actually behaved matter just as much as the text.

Can I sue a family member who co-owns the business with me?

Yes. Family ownership does not shield anyone from fiduciary obligations. These cases call for discretion and often benefit from mediation, but the legal claims are the same as in any other closely held company.

I own a minority stake. Do I have any power if the majority owner controls everything?

You typically have more than you might expect, including rights to information, claims for breach of duty, and in serious cases the ability to petition for dissolution or a court-supervised buyout. Majority control does not license self-dealing.

Will my case have to go to trial?

Not necessarily. Many fiduciary disputes resolve through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, especially where the operating agreement requires it. The firm pursues whichever path is most likely to meet your goals efficiently, and prepares as if the case may be tried.

I live out of state but own part of a Broward County company. Can you still help?

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 clients informed so they do not have to travel for every hearing.

How are fiduciary claims different from a partnership dispute over direction or strategy?

A strategy disagreement is a business judgment call, while a fiduciary claim involves misconduct: disloyalty, concealment, or misuse of control. The two often overlap in practice, and a deadlock can coexist with a breach, which is why the right facts and the right pleading both matter.

Is it worth hiring a lawyer if the amount involved is relatively small?

It depends on the amounts, the strength of the evidence, and the cost of pursuing the claim. A consultation can give you a realistic read, and the firm looks for resolutions that make financial sense rather than drawing a case out for its own sake.

Representing Fiduciary Duty Clients in Weston and Across South Florida

For Weston clients, the work starts close to home and reaches across the region. We represent owners and investors in Weston, Cooper City, Davie, Southwest Ranches, Pembroke Pines, Miramar, Sunrise, Plantation, Coral Springs, Parkland, Coconut Creek, Margate, Tamarac, Lauderhill, Fort Lauderdale, and Hollywood, along with the rest of Broward County. North of the county line, we serve clients in Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Wellington, West Palm Beach, and throughout Palm Beach County.

Many of the businesses we see are family companies or investment partnerships with owners scattered across the country, and we regularly work with clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut whose partners or co-owners are here in South Florida. We also accept referrals from other attorneys whose clients have a fiduciary or business dispute in Florida, communicating with referring counsel throughout the matter.

Speak With a Weston Breach of Fiduciary Duty Lawyer

If you believe a partner, co-owner, or manager has taken advantage of a position of trust, the earlier you get a clear read on your options, the more of them you tend to keep. Contact the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team to talk with a Weston breach of fiduciary duty lawyer about what happened, what the documents say, and whether emergency relief, a buyout, or a lawsuit makes the most sense. Call today to arrange a consultation.