Griffiths

This appeal concerns the issue whether the three-year statute of limitations for actions “for relief on the ground of fraud” (Code Civ. Proc., § 338, subd. 4), or the four-year statute for “An action upon any contract, obligation or liability founded upon hn instrument in writing” (Code Civ. Proc., § 337, subd. I) is applicable to an action commenced by plaintiff in the superior court.

Plaintiff Virginia San Filippo, then Virginia Griffiths, and defendant James Griffiths (hereafter for convenience “Virginia” and “James”) ■ entered into a “Property Settlement and Separation Agreement,” July 30, 1968. It was thereafter, on October 4, 1968, “ratified, approved and confirmed” by the superior court, in an interlocutory decree of divorce between the parties. The agreement containéd a provision stating:

In light of the parties’ contentions it seems proper at this point to analyze this provision.

As to community property not included in the agreement, later found to have existed at the time of its execution, James promised to pay Virginia 50 percent of its value. Fraud is wholly absent as a condition of this liability.

The remaining clause dealt with community property…