Women's Battle for Parting Family Heritage

Hope, whose true identity is known for editing, has established its family, has grown-up children and works at one of the public institutions in Kosovo.

It shows that the father's wealth, which died years ago, is estimated at high financial value, where there are houses, locals and some land bears in the centre of one of Kosovo's largest cities, where a land bear accounts for thousands of euros.

“As the daughter of that family, as born and raised in that house, I have probably contributed more than brothers”, says Hope.

It shows that brothers in no way are agreeing to share their wealth equally.

“The reason is to enrich themselves and it's patriarchism in power, male domination everywhere in the wealth of parents”, says Hope.

The position of women regarding their right to inheritance, according to the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo and the laws in power, is clearly defined, where the division of property is said to be done equally without excluding members on gender grounds. The Law on Heritage stipulates that “s of all physical persons, under the same conditions, are equal in inheritance”.

The legal heirs are the children of the inheritancer, his adopted ones, and their offspring, their husband, parents, brothers, and sisters.

But even laws are challenged by the traditions and customs in Kosovo, as the sisters' demand for inheritance to the brothers is still considered “turp” and they are expelled from the family, says Valbona Salihu, executive director of the Association of Jurists Norma. This association offers legal assistance and free revocation for gender equality.

In the name of family harmony, brotherly, or even because of fraud, fear of male beneficiary members, according to Salih, women give up their inheritance.

If your brother wants you for wealth only, you don't need him, because in some cases they leave the family. The reality is that if you seek wealth, you have no right to visit your parents or leave it with your brothers”, Salih tells Radio Free Europe.

Hope has the same fate. From the moment she has applied for her property, she has no contact with her brothers.

Voluntarily giving up the inheritance is within the Law for Heritage. Article 130 of this law says that the heir can give up his legacy with statements given to the court until the heritage session is concluded. It also applies to the offspring of the one who gave up.

However, according to Salih, this article is being misused by the brothers, asking women not to make quick decisions to give up inherited property.

I think this article should get up over a period of five or ten years, when the situation improves, the men and women for gender equality on property will be conscious, and then only then it will be back”, she points out.

Hope says he doesn't intend to stop seeking his share of wealth. For some years now, it has addressed this case in the organs of justice, but it says it is disappointed with the neglect of its subject.

I blame a lot of the court for coming up to this crawl. After more than five years, it has not started a session and has again been interrupted by changing judges from time to time and has come so as not to hold hearings, the result concluding the” process, she says.

That these subjects crawl into courts over five years says I also reached Rezniqi, senior researcher at the Kosovo Institute for Justice (IKD), which monitors Kosovo's justice system.

Such setbacks, she says, discourage women from demanding the realisation of their rights, at the same time losing communication of citizens to the authorities of justice.

It's a big problem. When they see that an opportunity he has presented is taking a long time to complete, and in the meantime it is the pressures they are given to give up. Even though they initiate cases, problems arise, they do not stabilize to continue their life without problems, even though they are legally entitled to it. All this procrastination becomes excessive, and most women who initiate cases become depressed because they are very much in trouble that their cases are not resolved as soon as they can, Rezniqi points out.

Hope says it's hard to change society mentality “that women's wealth is in their husbands”. But hope says it will not be “used before customs”.

“Starting with my case, I can't say there is any more difficult than to change the Kosovo mentality about my parents' heritage for girls and women. One of the reasons I've started a court process is to be an example for other women to act on and to be persistent in obtaining property that belongs to”, she points out.

According to Kosovo organisations, women inherit about 4 per cent of their parents' property, and that figure has not changed since several years. Meanwhile, women as owners are over 18 percent. According to the Cadastral Agency's data from about 570 thousand properties in Kosovo, only about 11 thousand are female owners.