## Facts

- A will created life estates in five income-producing, mortgaged properties located in Brooklyn, New York, with remainder interests vested in Sweeney and other remaindermen.
- The life tenants were Mr. and Mrs. Schoneberger; after Mr. Schoneberger died, Mrs. Schoneberger remained as the surviving life tenant in possession and collected the rents.
- The properties generated rental income that, if properly managed, should have been sufficient to pay mortgage interest, real estate taxes, and the ordinary costs needed to keep the buildings in reasonable repair.
- After becoming the sole life tenant, Mrs. Schoneberger failed to pay mortgage interest and real estate taxes and neglected necessary upkeep, even while continuing to collect rental income.
- As a result of these defaults, the mortgagee instituted foreclosure proceedings on multiple properties, and three of the properties were foreclosed.
- Sweeney, a remainderman, sued Mrs. Schoneberger for waste, alleging that her failure to apply rents to carrying charges and ordinary maintenance impaired the value of the remainder interests.

## Issues

1. Whether a life tenant in possession of mortgaged, income-producing property must apply rents and profits to mortgage interest, real estate taxes, and ordinary repairs when the income is sufficient.
2. Whether a life tenant’s failure to make those payments and repairs—leading to foreclosure and impairment of the remainder—constitutes actionable waste for which the remainderman may obtain relief.

## Decision

- The court held that a life tenant who receives rents from the property has a duty, so far as the income is sufficient, to use those rents to pay mortgage interest, taxes, and ordinary repairs needed to preserve the property.
- The court concluded that Mrs. Schoneberger’s nonpayment of interest and taxes and her neglect of maintenance, despite the availability of rental income, constituted waste because it diminished and endangered the remaindermen’s future estate.
- The court granted relief to the remainderman based on the life tenant’s wasteful mismanagement and the resulting foreclosure-related harm to the remainder.

## Legal Principles

- A life tenant must manage the property in a manner that preserves its value for the remaindermen and must not commit waste.
- When mortgaged property produces rents and profits sufficient to meet carrying charges, the life tenant must apply that income to mortgage interest and real estate taxes and must make ordinary repairs necessary to keep the premises in reasonable condition.
- A life tenant is generally not required to pay mortgage principal from personal funds merely because principal becomes due during the life tenancy; the core obligation is to prevent avoidable deterioration and default where the property’s income can do so.
- Permitting preventable tax delinquencies, interest defaults, and deterioration that lead to foreclosure or otherwise reduce the value of the remainder can constitute waste, giving remaindermen a basis for judicial relief.

## Conclusion

Sweeney v. Schoneberger holds that a life tenant who controls rental income from mortgaged property must, to the extent rents are sufficient, pay mortgage interest, real estate taxes, and ordinary repair expenses; failure to do so, where it results in foreclosure and impairment of the remainder interest, is waste for which a remainderman may obtain relief.


Sweeney v. Schoneberger, 186 N.Y.S. 707 (1919)