What happen if condo owner held back maint. fees, would that force association to take him to court, or what is best way to deal with assoc. problems?

Well, yeah, it would probably get them to take you to court… probably to foreclose on a lien they’ll put on your property for non-payment.  In my experience, you will lose that battle.  You mention your purpose is that you think there’s “something fishy going on with the board of directors.”  Do you have any evidence of this?  You say that it isn’t shown in the financials given to owners, so the next step is to ask what raises suspicion?  Perhaps your first step is to address your concerns with the membership and, perhaps, raise it at a board meeting.  Look to your HOA documents for some guidance in what your board can and cannot do and what regulations exist.  From your facts as stated, no one can really say whether you have any legal recourse or not.  So, on that alone, you may find it helpful to sit down with an attorney in a confidential environment to discuss what evidence you have (or suspicions) and then consider your options.  That said, in response to the question you posed regarding having them take you to court – if you do that, you are taking a very big risk.