Case ID: nj-eq_19/html/0120-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "The Chancellor.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

In the Matter of the Application for Sale of Lands of Mary E. Steele, an Infant.
    1. A life tenant is bound to keep the premises in repair, not excepting dilapidations occasioned by Ordinary wear and tear in the proper use of the premises.
    2. The reversionary estate Of an infant will not be sold because there may be a great advantage in the sale to the tenant for life, when the benefit to the infant is doubtful or inappreciable.
    This was an application by the father for the sale of lands of an infant daughter.
    
      Mr. J. H. Varí Cleef, for petitioned.
   The Chancellor.

In this case the father has a life estate, as tenant by the Curtesy. The property rents for $50 a year j the taxes are $8, and the property, if sold, will bring $600. The father is thirty years old, and his share of the proceeds would, according to the tables, be seventy-eight per cent., or $468, leaving $132 for the infant. The premises are out of repair, and it would require $250 to put them in repair. The life tenant is bound to keep the premises in as good repair as they were when he took them, not excepting ordinary or natural wear and tear; if a new roof is needed, he is bound to put it on; if paint wears off, he is bound to re-paint. The father has been tenant for eight years, and has suffered this dilapidation. The sale may be a great benefit to the delinquent father.' The benefit to the child is inappreciable. The sale will not be ordered, unless the father agrees to take $200 for his share of the proceeds.