Wilton Manors Family Business Dispute Attorney

When a business started with a sibling, a parent, a spouse, or a close friend begins to come apart, the argument is rarely just about money, and the decisions that matter most often have to be made before anyone is ready to make them. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team handles business and real estate litigation for owners, investors, and families in Wilton Manors, throughout Broward County, and across Palm Beach County, and a good share of our work involves companies where the owners share a last name or a long personal history.

If you are looking for a Wilton Manors family business dispute attorney, you are probably dealing with a specific problem: a brother who stopped contributing but still expects a distribution, a parent who will not hand over control, a relative who has been paying personal expenses from the company account, or co-owners of a building who want opposite things for it. These disputes sit at the intersection of corporate law, contract law, and property law, and the right path depends on what your operating agreement or shareholder agreement says, who controls the books, and how much time you have before the damage becomes hard to reverse.

Wilton Manors is a compact city, and many of its businesses are exactly the kind that run on family and friendship: restaurants and bars along Wilton Drive, small retail shops, salons, professional practices, and rental properties held by relatives or longtime partners. Those owners often built the company on a handshake and a short operating agreement, or on no written agreement at all. That informality works while everyone agrees and becomes a problem the moment they do not.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for a Family Business Dispute

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team is a business and real estate litigation firm serving clients in Wilton Manors, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, and the rest of Broward and Palm Beach Counties. The firm’s lead attorney, Andrew M. Schwartz, was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989 and has spent 37 years in litigation, with a career built around complex contract disputes, business divorces, and conflicts among partners, LLC members, and shareholders. He earned his undergraduate degree at Emory University in 1986 and his law degree at the University of Miami in 1989. Senior Counsel Sundeep Nath, a Northwestern-trained litigator, brings years of experience in business and real estate cases in both state and federal courts.

The firm practices as a true legal team, which matters in a family dispute because these cases tend to generate frequent, emotionally charged contact. Everyone working on your matter knows the file, so you are not re-explaining the history of the company to a new person each time you call. We keep a strict 24 hour return call policy when we are in court or otherwise unavailable, and we schedule conference calls at times that work for everyone involved.

Our work also reflects a practical view of what clients want. People often arrive wanting the most aggressive lawyer available. What they usually need is someone who acts as the situation requires and uses finesse when finesse will do, while keeping legal fees in proportion to what is at stake. We are experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as courtroom litigation, and we look for the resolution that serves the client’s goals and budget rather than prolonging a case for its own sake.

On the trial side, the firm recently obtained a 32-page final judgment from the Broward County Circuit Court following a five-day bench trial, awarding our client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. That result reflects the kind of detailed, document-driven preparation we bring to every contract and ownership dispute, including those between relatives.

Types of Family Business Disputes We Handle

• Deadlock Between Co-Owners: Two siblings each hold half of an LLC or corporation and cannot agree on a major decision, so neither can act. Florida’s LLC statute recognizes deadlock, where managers or members cannot break the impasse and irreparable injury to the company is threatened or occurring, as a ground for judicial dissolution.
• Buyouts and Valuation Fights: One family member wants out, or the others want that person out, and no one agrees on what the interest is worth. These cases turn on the operating or shareholder agreement, any buy-sell provision, and competing financial evidence.
• Breach of Fiduciary Duty: A relative who manages the company owes duties to the company and its owners. Self-dealing, undisclosed related-party transactions, and favoring one branch of the family over another can support claims against the person in control.
• Missing or Diverted Funds: Unpaid distributions, personal expenses run through company accounts, commingled funds, and managers who cannot account for money. We pursue accountings and recovery claims and, when assets are at risk, seek emergency injunctive relief.
• Minority Owner Oppression: A family member who holds a smaller stake is shut out of information, meetings, or distributions. Shareholders in a Florida corporation facing this kind of conduct have statutory remedies, including a path to a court-supervised buyout.
• Inherited Ownership Interests: Siblings who inherited a business or a stake in one often have different ideas about running, selling, or exiting it, and the governing documents may say little about heirs.
• Shared Real Estate: Family-owned rental buildings, commercial space, and investment property can end up in partition actions or title disputes when co-owners cannot agree on selling, renting, or buying each other out.
• Breach of Operating and Shareholder Agreements: Disputes over capital contributions, compensation, transfer restrictions, and the rights of departing owners often come down to the exact wording of the agreement and how the family actually behaved under it.

What to Do When Your Family Business Is Coming Apart

The first step is to gather the documents before the dispute hardens. Pull together the articles of organization or incorporation, the operating agreement or shareholder agreement, any buy-sell agreement, tax returns, financial statements, bank statements, loan documents, and the leases or deeds for any real estate the company owns or uses. If you have been shut out of the books, request access in writing. Florida law gives owners information rights, and a documented refusal can become important evidence later. Save emails and text messages that show how the owners actually ran the company, because courts look at the parties’ course of dealing as well as the written terms.

Next, avoid actions that weaken your position. Do not move money out of company accounts, change locks, cut off a relative’s access to systems, or stop paying obligations without advice, because even a justified grievance can be undercut by self-help. Likewise, be careful about what you put in writing to family members. A heated message to a sibling can end up as an exhibit.

Timing matters because Florida sets firm deadlines. A claim founded on a written agreement generally must be filed within five years, while an oral or implied contract claim has four years. A fraud claim has four years from discovery, subject to an outer limit of 12 years. A suit seeking specific performance has only one year. Because several of these periods can apply to the same family dispute, waiting to see whether things cool down can cost you a claim.

Where you file depends on the property and the parties. Broward County cases are heard in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, and Palm Beach County cases in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit. Disputes above the county court’s jurisdictional limit belong in circuit court, and the Seventeenth Circuit has a complex business division that handles matters such as dissolution of certain business entities and large business litigation, with a defined process for filing directly into it. Cases with a federal element can be heard in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, which sits in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. We handle appearances in these courts so that clients who live elsewhere, including those in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, do not have to travel for each hearing.

If assets are being moved or spent, speed matters more than anything else. Courts can issue temporary and permanent injunctions, appoint a receiver or custodian after notice and a hearing, and take other steps to preserve company property while the dispute is pending. Our firm regularly seeks early and emergency relief when a client’s business interests, funds, or real property are at risk.

Ending a Family Business Relationship: Dissolution, Buyouts, and Partition

When owners cannot continue together, the law offers several exits, and the right one depends on the entity and the agreement. For an LLC, a member or manager can ask the circuit court for dissolution on grounds that include deadlock with threatened irreparable injury, misappropriation or waste of assets, illegal or fraudulent conduct by those in control, or that it is not reasonably practicable to carry on the business under the operating agreement. In those proceedings the court can appoint a receiver or custodian, or order the purchase of the petitioning member’s interest. If the operating agreement contains a deadlock sale provision that is started before the court finds deadlock grounds, that contractual mechanism can take the place of a dissolution order.

For a corporation, a shareholder can seek judicial dissolution on statutory grounds, including that the corporation has abandoned its business and failed within a reasonable time to wind up. Florida also gives the corporation, or other shareholders, the option of avoiding dissolution by electing to buy the petitioner’s shares at fair value. If the parties agree on value and terms within 60 days after the first election is filed, the court enters an order directing the purchase on those terms, and an election to purchase is irrevocable unless the court finds it equitable to modify it. Within 30 days after certain dissolution proceedings begin, the corporation must notify the other shareholders of this buyout option. Filing for dissolution does not cancel a shareholder’s right to use a compliant deadlock sale provision in a shareholder agreement.

Family businesses often own real estate, and property can be the hardest asset to divide. Florida partition actions are brought in circuit court. The complaint must describe the land, name the owners and where they live, and state each owner’s share. If the court orders partition, it appoints three commissioners to decide whether the property can be divided fairly. When division would prejudice the owners, the court may order a sale at public auction and divide the proceeds in proportion to each owner’s interest. Where relatives inherited property as tenants in common, Florida’s Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act can apply, and it adds protections such as requiring that partition in kind be considered before a forced sale. Title problems among relatives, including competing claims of ownership, can be resolved through a quiet title action, which requires the plaintiff to trace title for at least seven years unless the court orders otherwise.

Many of these disputes never reach a verdict. Negotiated buyouts, structured wind-downs, mediation, and arbitration often resolve them faster and with less damage to the family. We pursue those paths where they serve the client, and we prepare for trial in parallel so that negotiating positions are credible.

Questions About Family Business Disputes in Wilton Manors

Can a family member be forced out of a Florida LLC?

It depends on the operating agreement and the conduct involved. Many agreements include buyout, expulsion, or dissociation provisions, and Florida law provides remedies when a member has engaged in serious misconduct or the company can no longer function. Reviewing the agreement is the first step.

What is a business divorce?

A business divorce is the separation of co-owners, whether partners, LLC members, or shareholders. It can end in a negotiated buyout, a sale, a structured wind-down, or court-ordered dissolution when the owners cannot agree.

What if my relative is taking money from the company?

You may have claims for breach of fiduciary duty, an accounting, conversion, and recovery of the funds. When assets are at immediate risk, a court can issue injunctive relief to prevent them from being moved or spent while the case proceeds.

We never signed an operating agreement. Can we still sue?

Yes. Without a written agreement, Florida’s default statutory rules and the parties’ conduct fill the gaps. Claims based on oral or implied agreements have a four-year limitations period, so delay can be costly.

How long do I have to file a breach of contract claim?

A claim founded on a written instrument generally has five years, and an oral or implied contract claim has four. A specific performance action has one year. The period that applies depends on how the claim is framed, so confirm the deadline early.

Do family business disputes always end up in court?

No. Many resolve through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration. Our attorneys are experienced in alternative dispute resolution and pursue the route most likely to achieve your goals efficiently, while preparing for litigation if needed.

Can I get a court order to freeze company assets?

Courts can issue temporary and permanent injunctions and, in dissolution proceedings, appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing with notice to the parties. These tools are used when assets are being diverted or wasted.

My siblings and I inherited a building together. Can one of us force a sale?

A co-owner can ask the court for partition. The court can divide the property or, if division would prejudice the owners, order a sale and split the proceeds by ownership share. If the property qualifies as heirs property, additional statutory protections apply before a forced sale.

What does it mean if a shareholder agreement has a deadlock sale provision?

It is a contract mechanism that lets owners break an impasse, often through a buy-sell process. If properly initiated before a court finds deadlock grounds in an LLC dissolution case, it can displace judicial dissolution. Timing and compliance with the agreement matter.

Does filing for dissolution stop the other side from buying me out?

No. In a corporate dissolution case, the corporation or other shareholders may elect to purchase your shares at fair value, which can end the dissolution case. That election is generally irrevocable once made.

I live in New York. Can your firm handle a dispute over a Wilton Manors business?

Yes. We regularly represent clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with business or real estate interests in South Florida, handle the local court appearances, and keep you informed at each stage.

Can another attorney refer my family business case to your firm?

Yes. A significant part of our practice comes from referrals by other lawyers, including out of state attorneys with clients who have Florida disputes. We communicate with referring counsel throughout and respect their relationship with the client.

Serving Family Business Clients From Wilton Manors Across South Florida

Our Wilton Manors clients are often owners of businesses along Wilton Drive and the surrounding blocks, and we also represent family businesses throughout Broward County, including Fort Lauderdale, Oakland Park, Pompano Beach, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Hollywood, Hallandale Beach, Dania Beach, Davie, Plantation, Sunrise, Coral Springs, Parkland, Deerfield Beach, and Coconut Creek. We handle matters filed in the Broward courts as well as in the Southern District of Florida’s Fort Lauderdale division.

Across the county line, our team represents owners and families in Palm Beach County, including Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Lake Worth, West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, and Wellington. Many of our clients live outside Florida entirely, in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, while holding an ownership stake in a South Florida company or property, and we manage the local side of the case so they can protect their interests from a distance.

Speak With a Wilton Manors Family Business Dispute Lawyer

When a business dispute involves people you love, the cost of waiting is usually higher than the cost of getting advice. A Wilton Manors family business dispute lawyer can review your agreements, tell you which deadlines apply, and explain whether a negotiated exit, a mediated settlement, or court action fits your situation. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team will give you a candid assessment and a plan that fits your goals and budget. Call us to schedule a consultation and discuss your family business dispute.