heirs in disagreement

What is the name of your state? MS.
I'm not sure if this is the correct site for this question so I apologize if it is not.

My family has owned 400 acres of marshland for many generations. The purchase was based on mineral rights, namely oil. Approximately 20 years ago we leased the property for 1 year to a drilling company in hopes they would find oil, but they didn't. We recently learned a national conservation organization has purchased all the land that surrounds our property and has made an offer to puchase our property as well. This is the problem.

The "family" now consists of 5 seperate families. Some want to sell and some do not. To further complicate the matter the property is not divided in a way that would determine family "A" owns this section, family "B" owns this section, etc. In other words it has never been distinguished what family owns what part of the property. All we know is 400 acres are divided between 5 families, or 80 acres per family. For the record, and I'm not sure if it would pertain to this situation, but the majority of the families,3, want to sell, it's the other 2 families that do not. The organization has agreed to let us retain all mineral rights but has also stated they will never grant a "right of way" for any heavy equiptment. Remember, they have purchased all property surrounding ours.

We have investigated the organization and they are ligimate. We have no reason to doubt their intentions.

Is this a situation that the majority of owners rule or is there another way to determine what family owns what part of the property?

Presuming, from what you stated that there is no access by road or easement:

IF the property is totally landlocked by lands owned by this agency, there is no future ability to either develop it, build upon it or utilize mineral rights. Unless there exists an easement to allow vehicles/equipment to pass over other land onto this property. A review of your abstract or title will show if any egress easement exists to benefit this property.

A marshland also is likely a "wetlands" and, as such, it is possible it may not legally be drained or filled without the appropriate government agency's approval. In my state, this would fall under jurisdiction of the DNR (Dept of Natural Resources).

The ONLY potential buyer there is and likely ever will be (based upon the above presumptions) is this non-profit that has made this offer. A LANDLOCKED PROPERTY HAS VERY LIMITED VALUE. If my understanding of what you wrote is correct, WHAT is the purpose of hanging onto the property? Do the families who want to keep it understand that nobody else but this agency will have any use for this property? I'd powwow with them and ask WHAT they want to keep it for?

In most states you can force a property owner to grant you a right of way into your property. In other words they cannot buy up all of the surrounding property and then deny you access. However this would probably be a protracted and expensive legal battle.

How is the title to the property held? If it was never properly probated and transferred you will need to retain an estate attorney to clear up the title so it can be sold. Everything depends on how the property is titled. If it is still in an estate then the executor can make the decision to sell and divide the proceeds.

If it is titled to numerous parties and
if the majority of the owners wish to sell then you can have the attorney petition the court to force a sale. This can also be time consuming and expensive. Why don't you host a family reunion at Christmas and try to get a consensus without any personal injuries occuring.

lwpat, nextwife-
Thanks to you both for your response.

I have no idea why the 2 families will not sell. They will not offer an explanation. This property is absoulutely worthless. It is marshland, or wetlands that contains a rather rare form of plant that the conservation group wants to protect. If it were an animal it would be placed on the endangered species list. I will follow up on your suggestions and go from there.

Thanks