Removing a business partner in Florida starts with one question: what does your agreement say? If your partnership or operating agreement contains an expulsion or removal provision, removal is a matter of following it exactly. If it does not, no Florida statute lets you simply vote a co owner off the island, and the realistic paths become a negotiated buyout, a restructuring, or in serious cases a court proceeding built on your partner's own conduct. The difference between those paths is enormous, which is why the document read comes before any move.
Tell Aaron What Happened
Before you act, and especially before you confront your partner, get the plan straight. A removal attempted in the wrong order can hand the other side the lawsuit.
Call (305) 672-7495 Speak to Aaron
When Removal Becomes Urgent
Removal turns urgent in Florida when the partner you need out is actively damaging the company: taking money, signing contracts you did not approve, harassing employees, dealing with competitors, or exposing the business to liability. At that point the question is no longer only how to remove them but how to contain the harm while you do, and the containment tools are time sensitive. Document what is happening with dates and amounts, and call before the next incident.
Grounds That Actually Support Removal
The grounds that support removing a Florida partner are conduct based, and vague dissatisfaction is not among them. What carries weight: misappropriating company funds, persistent breach of the agreement, competing against the company, abandoning the work while keeping the equity, and conduct that makes carrying on the business with them impracticable. Florida's partnership and LLC statutes (Chapters 620 and 605) recognize expulsion concepts in defined circumstances, and courts take them seriously precisely because they take ownership seriously. Building the record of that conduct, in writing, before you move is most of the work.
Why Self Help Removal Backfires
Locking a partner out, deleting their access, or announcing to staff that they are gone does not remove them in Florida. It leaves them exactly the owner they were, now armed with an emergency motion and a story about being expelled from their own company without process. Self help converts a strong removal case into a defensive one. The sequence that works is the opposite: build the record, secure the money and the data through proper channels, then move under the agreement or through the court.
If There Is No Removal Clause
Without a removal clause, a Florida partner is removed through economics, not decree. The working options are a negotiated buyout backed by leverage, a restructuring the other side accepts because the alternative is worse, or a court proceeding where their conduct justifies relief. It is slower than people want and more effective than people expect, because most partners who have made themselves removable have also made themselves vulnerable.
What to Have Ready
Bring the partnership or operating agreement and amendments, the written record of the conduct at issue with dates, financial statements showing any money problems, and any correspondence where the partner acknowledges what they have done. If employees or customers have complained in writing, preserve those messages exactly as they are.
What Happens Next
The first consultation determines which path is real for your facts: clause, buyout, or conduct based proceeding. Then the record gets tightened, the financial exposure gets secured, and the move is made once, correctly. Partners rarely leave because they are asked. They leave because staying has been made the worse option, lawfully and on paper.
Why Aaron Resnick
Aaron Resnick has been practicing in Florida since 1998, and disputes between co owners of closely held companies are the core of his work. He has been named a Florida Super Lawyer every year since 2013, and his work has been covered by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the Miami Herald. Removal fights are won on sequencing and evidence. That is what the firm brings.
Related Questions
Can a majority vote remove a partner in Florida?
Only if the agreement says so. Ownership percentages control profits and many decisions, but removing an owner requires either a contractual mechanism or grounds a court will act on. A majority acting without either creates claims instead of resolving them.
Can I remove a 50/50 partner?
An equal partner cannot be outvoted, so removal at 50/50 runs through the agreement, a buyout, or conduct based court relief. The deadlock itself becomes part of the case when it is harming the company.
What if my partner did something serious, like taking money?
Misappropriation changes the posture entirely. It supports removal grounds, fiduciary claims, and urgent protective measures at the same time. Preserve the records quietly and get advice before you confront them, because the confrontation is when evidence starts disappearing.
This page is general information, not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney client relationship with the Law Offices of Aaron Resnick, P.A. Every dispute turns on its own facts, documents, and deadlines.
