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Banana Moon Trust was organized as a trust under the laws of the
State of Nevada. However, in petitioner’s response to respon-
dent’s motion and at the hearing on that motion, Mr. Chisum
asserted that the administration of Banana Moon Trust is governed
by the laws of the State of Arizona and that the exclusive jur-
isdiction in determining the validity of the trustee is in the
Superior Court of the State of Arizona.
Assuming arguendo, as petitioner claims, that Banana Moon
Trust, the purported TMP of Jeff Burger Productions, is a trust,
the administration of which is subject to the laws of the State
of Arizona, under Arizona law, see Rule 60(c), a trustee has the
power to commence litigation on behalf of a trust.3 See Ariz.
Rev. Stat. Ann. sec. 14-7233.C.25. (West 1995). In the instant
case, petitioner has the burden of proving that this Court has
jurisdiction, see Fehrs v. Commissioner, 65 T.C. 346, 348 (1975);
National Comm. to Secure Justice in the Rosenberg Case v. Commis-
sioner, 27 T.C. 837, 839 (1957), by establishing affirmatively
3Assuming arguendo, as the governing trust documents per-
taining to Banana Moon Trust suggest, that Banana Moon Trust, the
purported TMP of Jeff Burger Productions, is a trust, the admin-
istration of which is subject to the laws of the State of Nevada,
under Nevada law, see Rule 60(c), a trustee has the power to
commence litigation on behalf of a trust if the trust instrument
so provides. See Nev. Rev. Stat. Ann. secs. 163.260 and 163.375
(Michie 1993). The governing trust documents pertaining to
Banana Moon Trust state in pertinent part that the board of
trustees of Banana Moon Trust was to have “all of the powers of
Trustees under the Anglo-Saxon Common Law, as well as those
specified under the laws of the State of Nevada.”
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