For a number of different reasons you can find yourself in the need of selling land or property in which you are one of the owners (but not the only owner), and you cannot find the other owner. The question is, in that situation, what can you do?
It is a serious problem, but it is not one that does not have some resolution.
The bottom line is that you might be able to sell your partial interest in the property either to a buyer who is willing to purchase only a partial interest, or to sell the entire property with a court allowing you to keep that percentage of the sales funds (after expenses) that belongs to you, and escrowing those that do not.
First, it goes without saying that you have to make a serious and dedicated effort to find the other owner or his or her heirs, if the other owner turns out to be deceased. This might include publishing notices in newspapers and doing public record searches, or even retaining a private investigator.
If you can still not find the other owner, you will need to go to court and file suit to partition the property. In effect, you will ask the court to either force the sale of the property to a new buyer and with you getting paid your share of the proceeds and the share belonging to the other owner being preserved for him or her.
If you do not wish to go through this process, every area usually has one or more land or property speculators that will purchase just your undivided percentage of the land and undertake this process themselves. They will, however, typically pay you a lesser sum than what your interest is worth for the risk they undertake.
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