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STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS


MARGARET JUDD, Personal Representative of the Estate of JAMES SCOTT YAGER, Deceased, Plaintiff-Appellant, v BASIM TOWFIQ, M.D., GOPI NALLANI, M.D., UDAYA CHINTALAPUDI, M.D., BOARD OF HOSPITAL MANAGERS OF FLINT HURLEY MEDICAL CENTER, HURLEY HEALTH SERVICES, HURLEY MEDICAL GROUP, P.C., and HURLEY PHO OF MID-MICHIGAN, Defendants-Appellees.

UNPUBLISHED October 11, 2007

No. 259107 Genesee Circuit Court LC No. 04-078595-NH

Before: Schuette, P.J., and Hoekstra and Meter, JJ. PER CURIAM. In this wrongful death medical malpractice action, plaintiff, the personal representative of the decedent's estate, appeals as of right from a circuit court order granting summary disposition to defendants pursuant to MCR 2.116(C)(7) (statute of limitations). We affirm. Plaintiff first argues that the circuit court lacked jurisdiction to enter orders affecting her or the estate after the probate court closed the estate in August 2004. Whether a court possesses personal jurisdiction over a litigant constitutes a legal question that this Court considers de novo. In re SZ, 262 Mich App 560, 564; 686 NW2d 520 (2004). To the extent this issue involves legal questions of statutory construction, we also consider these questions de novo. Id. Several provisions of the Estates and Protected Individuals Code (EPIC), MCL 700.1101 et seq., undermine plaintiff's assertion that the circuit court could take no action against her or the estate once the probate court ordered it closed. In MCL 700.3608, the EPIC addresses the termination of a personal representative's appointment and provides, in relevant part, as follows: "Termination of appointment of a personal representative occurs as provided in sections 3609 to 3612. Termination ends the right and power pertaining to the office of personal representative as conferred by this act . . . ." The parties do not dispute that plaintiff voluntarily filed a closing statement in the probate court in July 2004, and MCL 700.3610(1) expressly states that "[a] personal representative's appointment terminates 1 year after the filing of a closing statement as provided in section 3954." -1-


MCL 700.3954 governs the circumstances under which a personal representative unilaterally may file a statement declaring an estate closed and, regarding the representative's authority, provides in MCL 700.3954(2) that "[i]f a proceeding involving the personal representative is not pending in the court 1 year after the closing statement is filed, the personal representative's appointment terminates." The plain language of

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