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Fehrs v. Commissioner, 65 T.C. 346 (1975). Under Michigan law,
"an estate is not a proper party to a lawsuit but rather the
administrator or executor is the proper party plaintiff or
defendant." Wright v. Estate of Treichel, 36 Mich. App. 33, 35,
193 N.W.2d 394, 395 (1971); see also Cinnamon v. Abner A. Wolf,
Inc., 215 F. Supp. 833 (E.D. Mich. 1963) (stating that the death
of the plaintiff during the pendency of a private antitrust suit
in Federal court sitting in Michigan did not abate the action,
and the executor of the deceased plaintiff's estate could be
substituted as party plaintiff). Mrs. Dornbrock was appointed
personal representative of her husband's estate by the Probate
Court of Wayne County, Michigan, which clearly qualifies her as
the proper party to continue the prosecution of Mr. Dornbrock's
action before this Court. This Court ordered that Mr.
Dornbrock's estate and Mrs. Dornbrock, as personal representative
of that estate, be substituted for her deceased husband as a
petitioner in this case. This substitution was in compliance
with both the rules of this Court and Michigan law. Mrs.
Dornbrock, therefore, has not convinced this Court that we lack
jurisdiction over the estate of her deceased husband in this
case.
As was noted in Nordstrom v. Commissioner, supra at 32:
The foregoing makes it clear that the Court's
jurisdiction over a case continues unimpaired by the death
of a petitioner and even * * * [in the event that] there is
no personal representative appointed to act in the place and
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