A person is told they cannot inherit from the family estate because of their gender and expected future marriage into another family
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The Situation
What They Said
“You cannot inherit — because of your gender, you will just take everything to your spouse's family when you marry.”
This phrase is used by relatives, family elders, or community leaders when distributing a deceased family member's estate, invoking customary practice to exclude certain relatives from inheritance.
Your Response
How to Respond
Under Article 2424 of the Civil and Commercial Code, daughters are descendants and have the same inheritance rights as sons. Customary practice cannot override the law.
Now say it out loud. The Advocate walks you through this scenario with audio, law references, and Scripture — so the words come out right when it matters.
This argument excludes a person from inheritance by predicting a future consequence — that they will marry and assets will leave the family — and using that prediction as a present justification for denying them a right. It is logically flawed because a potential future event does not override a current legal entitlement. It also applies group reasoning to an individual: not all people marry, not all marriages result in asset transfer, and in any case, other heirs also transfer assets through various means.
What the Law Says
Your Legal Foundation
Código Civil y Comercial de la Nación
art. 2424 del Código Civil y Comercial de la Nación — Equal inheritance rights
“Intestate successions are deferred to the descendants of the deceased, to their ascendants, to the surviving spouse, and to collateral relatives within the fourth degree inclusive, in the order and according to the rules established in this Code.”
The law does not distinguish by gender; daughters are descendants and therefore have equal inheritance rights. Customary practice excluding women is contrary to the Civil and Commercial Code.
What Scripture Says
God's Word on This
Numbers 27:7 (NET)
“The daughters of Zelophehad are correct. You must by all means give them a possession of an inheritance among their father's brothers, and you must transfer the inheritance of their father to them.”
God himself ruled in favour of the daughters of Zelophehad when they were excluded from their father's inheritance — establishing that those excluded have a rightful claim to inheritance, overriding the tradition that excluded them.
Job 42:15 (NET)
“There were no women as beautiful as Job's daughters in all the land, and their father gave them an inheritance along with their brothers.”
Job's restoration is depicted as including equal inheritance for his daughters — Scripture endorses the practice of daughters inheriting alongside sons.
Practice
Drill Prompt
They might say: 'But our tradition has always been to keep property in the male line.' You respond: 'Tradition cannot override the law. Article 2424 explicitly includes all descendants, regardless of sex. The law is the supreme rule, and any custom that contradicts it is invalid.'
What They'll Say Next
Blindside Counter-Arguments
After you give your response, they may push back. Here is how to handle each counter-argument.
They might say: “But the law says 'in the order and according to the rules established in this Code' – maybe the rules allow excluding women?”
Your response: No, the rules in the Code do not exclude women. The order and rules refer to the hierarchy of heirs (descendants first, then ascendants, etc.), not to gender. The law is gender-neutral.
They might say: “You are married, so you will take the inheritance to your husband's family, so it's better to give it to your brother.”
Your response: The law does not consider where the inheritance goes after the heir receives it. As a descendant, I have a legal right to inherit. The law protects my right regardless of my marital status.
Hear Your Rebuttal Out Loud
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