rights of minority shareholders

What is the name of your state? louisiana
i recently inherited stock from my father and a halfsister has also has inherited some also, we have had no previous relationship and there are ill feelings. the halfsister has bought more shares from other siblings who we didn't even know existed till after my father's death. so i have 40% and she has 60%. does she call all of the shots or will i have a voice. i am thinking about selling and i really don't know what to do. i would hate to loose my inheritence by her making decisions to essentially force me to sell to her at a low price or something. i guess what i am asking is that do i have any protection by laws? i am not educated in business at all. thanks

No answer can even be guessed at until you return to this forum and give the members here the exact LEGAL structure of the business, i.e., Corporation, Limited Liability Corporation, Limited Liability Company, Family Trust, Privately held corporation just to name a few.

the business is a retail business. it is a corporation.

With that, you are simply a minority shareholder and are along for the ride. Since you do not have controlling interest, any of your wishes for the direction of the company can be 'out-voted' by the majority shareholder.

And if you don't want to sell, you can't be forced to..... especially for a lower amount than you want.

when shares go up for sale after being inherited, do all heirs have equal chance to buy or does the seller choose who they sell to? regarding a corporation. say, if 3 heirs each had a share and 2 others wanted to sell, are they protected so that they would all end up with equal shares?

That would depend on whether there was a 'buy back' or 'last chance' agreement in place. The 'buy back' would give the company the first right to purchase, a 'last chance' would give the company the chance to match the buyers price.