Janise

This is an appeal from a judgment in favor of the plaintiff, who is the respondent herein, upon a claim against the estate of her former husband, arising out of a property settlement agreement. The issue on appeal involves a determination whether the claim in question is based on an obligation for support and maintenance which terminated upon the former husband’s death.

Prior to obtaining a divorce, the plaintiff and her former husband entered into a property settlement agreement which, in substance, divided their community property and, in separate paragraphs provided: (1) that the husband monthly should pay the plaintiff the sum of $200 or one-third of his net monthly income, whichever was the greater, “for the wife’s support and maintenance and in settlement of the division of the community property,” and (2) that the husband should “pay and hold the wife free from liability on account of encumbrances owing on the real property” conveyed to her, i.e., the home place, “as a further contribution toward her support and maintenance until said encumbrances are satisfied.”

A supplement to this agreement provided that “until the husband satisfies the encumbrances owing on the real…