In the Kyrgyz Republic, formal written law gives women the legal right to inherit equal shares with their children, male and female. A third lesson learned in the Kyrgyz Republic is that in formalizing or reforming customary law, policy makers and donors must pay close attention to the customary and formal judicial institutions as well as the customary law itself. Formalizing or replacing customary law in a manner that does enhance women's rights may have no effect if women do not have easy access to the formal judicial instiutions needed to excercise those rights. In the Kyrgyz Republic, for example, formal law now gives women who are divorcing rights to half of the joint property. Women must, however, go to court to excercise that right and most are unwilling or unable to do so.
Customary norms attach a substantial stigma to going to court, especially for women.
Moreover, the plaintiffs must pay an up-front State fee, equal to a certain percentage of the value of the property sought. Women are generally the plaintiffs and lack this up-front money, which means they are unable to excercise their right because they are denied access to court.