An elderly woman and her two middle-aged daughters living in a social protection shelter have taken the male members of their family to court in order to gain what they claim is their share of inheritance. The two sisters, one of whom is in her early 50s while the other is 46, say that their brothers have repeatedly blocked offers for their hands in marriage and have denied them their part of their father's inheritance, which is said to include buildings, farms, sums of money, gold and commercial assets worth millions. The 80-year-old mother and her two daughters have been living in Khamis Mushayt's Social Protection House for over a year while they wait for their case to be resolved, citing threats from male members of the family. A court in Surat Obaid set May 6 as the date for the case to be heard. Saeed Bin Mousa Al-Shahrani, Director of the Social Protection House, said that Social Affairs had summoned one of the sisters' brothers and made him sign an undertaking later submitted to the governorate not to harm the women. The brother also reportedly promised that the women would be given their share of the inheritance. Al-Shahrani said the mother and daughters had refused to leave the shelter and return to the family home, resulting in an “awkward situation” given the length of their stay at the facility and instructions from the Emir of Asir to speed up legal procedures. The brother, Mohammed Saeed, reportedly offered to give up his share of the inheritance in order to facilitate his mother and sisters' return to their home. He said that the dividing up of the inheritance would take a long time due to the need for title deeds and other documents to be issued. He said he objected to his sisters staying in Khamis Mushayt without guardians and denied he had blocked their marriage, saying that one of his sisters had agreed to marry one man but later backed down.
