By Alex Lubyansky Managing Partner Last updated
Acquisition Stars advises buyers and sellers on business sale attorney matters across Florida.
Serving 4 markets across Florida. Alex Lubyansky on every engagement.
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Your transaction details are under review. If there is alignment, we will be in touch.
Meanwhile, feel free to call us directly at (248) 266-2790
Acquisition Stars represents clients in each of the following markets. Click any city to learn about business sale transaction law services in that area.
Fees scale with what the deal actually requires: a clean asset sale with one buyer costs less to paper than a stock sale with multiple shareholders, an earnout, or SBA financing conditions attached. Florida engagements are typically billed hourly or in phases tied to the transaction's stage, assessment, structuring, due diligence, negotiation, and closing, rather than a single flat number quoted before anyone has reviewed the deal. Request an engagement assessment for a scope-specific figure.
Some very small transactions close without one, but Florida's tax clearance requirement for successor liability and its strongly enforced non-compete statute both carry real financial consequences if handled incorrectly. A buyer who closes without a DOR clearance letter can be held responsible for the seller's unpaid sales tax, and a non-compete drafted without Florida's reasonableness standard in mind can end up unenforceable exactly when it is needed. Most sellers with any real complexity engage counsel before the letter of intent stage.
In most Florida sales, the sequence runs: pre-sale diligence and cleanup of contracts and records, a letter of intent that sets price and structure, buyer due diligence, negotiation and drafting of the purchase agreement, and closing coordinated with a DOR tax clearance letter and any Sunbiz or DBPR filings the transfer requires. Sellers who go to market with a clean, organized data room typically see faster buyer interest and fewer surprises during diligence than sellers relying on informal recordkeeping.
A business sale involves several contract types at once: the purchase agreement itself, non-compete and transition agreements, escrow terms, and any lender-required documentation if the buyer is using SBA financing. A transaction attorney who handles business sales specifically, rather than general commercial contracts, is typically better positioned to negotiate these documents as an interconnected set instead of reviewing each one in isolation.
Yes. Acquisition Stars is a nationwide M&A law firm. Alex Lubyansky leads engagements for clients in Florida directly, from deal strategy through closing. We work with clients in every major metro and smaller markets throughout the state.
Florida has one of the strongest non-compete enforcement frameworks in the country under Florida Statute Section 542.335. Courts presume reasonable any restraint of six months or less, apply a rebuttable presumption of reasonableness for restraints up to two years, and presume unreasonable any restraint exceeding two years. Courts may not consider the hardship to the restricted party when deciding enforceability. Blue-penciling and reformation are expressly authorized.
Florida imposes a 5.5% corporate income tax but has no personal income tax. This makes Florida particularly attractive for S-corp and LLC acquisitions, as pass-through income to Florida-resident owners avoids state income taxation. Asset purchases benefit from Florida's favorable treatment of intangible property (no intangible tax since 2007).
Florida has repealed UCC Article 6 (Bulk Sales). However, Florida Statute Section 212.10 imposes successor liability on buyers of business assets for the seller's unpaid sales tax. Buyers must request a tax clearance letter from the Florida Department of Revenue. Closing without a clearance letter exposes the buyer to the seller's tax debt, up to the purchase price.
Look for an attorney with genuine transaction experience, not just corporate formation work. Verify that the attorney has handled deals similar in size and structure to yours. In Florida, confirm the attorney understands state-specific issues including Florida's non-compete framework, successor liability rules, and any industry-specific regulations. At Acquisition Stars, Alex Lubyansky leads every engagement, reviews every document, and leads negotiation and closing, with an associate supporting the work.
Florida's business-for-sale activity spans the state's three largest industry concentrations: trade, transportation, and logistics; professional and business services; and leisure and hospitality, with Miami functioning as an international deal-flow hub and the Tampa-Orlando corridor carrying much of the state's domestic healthcare and distribution transaction volume. Florida also operates specialized business court divisions in its busiest counties, Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Hillsborough, and Orange, a signal of how much complex commercial and transaction-adjacent litigation the state's courts are built to handle.
Florida repealed its bulk sales law, but Florida Statute 212.10 still lets the Department of Revenue pursue an asset buyer for the seller's unpaid sales tax up to the full purchase price, which is why a DOR tax clearance letter typically precedes closing. Florida also runs one of the strongest non-compete frameworks in the country under Section 542.335: for a covenant given by the seller of a business, restraints of three years or less carry a rebuttable presumption of reasonableness and restraints longer than seven years are presumed unreasonable, courts cannot weigh hardship to the restricted party, and overbroad language gets reformed rather than struck. Combine that with no personal income tax, and Florida acquisitions structured as S-corp or LLC pass-throughs are often more tax-efficient for a Florida-resident buyer than the equivalent asset deal in a state with an income tax.
A Florida sale process that drags rarely drags because the economics changed. It drags because a working capital target agreed to early in the letter of intent turns out to mean something different once the actual calculation lands, or because a buyer's financing was never really confirmed. Alex Lubyansky leads every Florida engagement from initial screening through closing, qualifying buyer intent and financing before a deal moves into due diligence, and keeping the transaction on a defined timeline rather than letting it stall on avoidable disputes.
Strongly enforced under statutory framework (Section 542.335). Hardship to employee not considered.
Florida imposes a 5.5% corporate income tax but has no personal income tax. This makes Florida particularly attractive for S-corp and LLC acquisitions, as pass-through income to Florida-resident owners avoids state income taxation. Asset purchases benefit from Florida's favorable treatment of intangible property (no intangible tax since 2007).
We confirm whether a Florida Department of Revenue tax clearance letter is required before closing and build it into the timeline, so a Florida asset sale is not exposed to the seller's unpaid sales tax after closing.
We draft non-compete and restrictive covenant terms to fit within Florida's presumption-of-reasonableness framework, since Florida courts will not weigh hardship to the restricted party, making precise scope and duration the main lever available.
For Florida-resident buyers, we evaluate whether an S-corp or LLC pass-through structure delivers a meaningfully better after-tax outcome than an asset deal, given Florida's lack of personal income tax.
We confirm a buyer's financing and intent, cash, SBA, or seller note, before a Florida deal moves into due diligence, so sellers are not disclosing sensitive financials to a buyer who was never funded to close.
Acquisition Stars handles M&A transactions for Florida clients and works with independent securities counsel on securities matters. Alex Lubyansky leads every M&A engagement.
Alex Lubyansky leads every business sale transaction law engagement, with an associate supporting the work.
15+ years of M&A experience. Nationwide practice. LOI through closing.
We review every transaction inquiry within one business day.
Your transaction details are under review. If there is alignment, we will be in touch.
Meanwhile, feel free to call us directly at (248) 266-2790
LOI through closing. Nationwide. 15+ years of M&A experience.
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