This extremely messy celebrity divorce just got messier.
In a new filing on August 10, Kevin Costner accused his ex-wife Christine Baumgartner of intentionally trying to “delay” their divorce proceedings. The latest court documents were obtained by Us Weekly, three months after news of their divorce originally broke.
In the motion, Costner’s lawyers said in part, “Christine has only thrown roadblock after roadblock up in an unjustified effort to avoid answering this discovery.” The 68-year-old Yellowstone star is now seeking monetary sanctions against Baumgartner, 48, because she has allegedly failed to respond to his lawyers’ discovery requests.
Costner and Baumgartner have three children together, all between the ages of 13 and 16 years old, and were married for 19 years before they split. Over the summer, their divorce proceedings have become increasingly messy, with arguments over finances, child support, their home residence, and more. Here’s what Costner said in the most recent filing.
Costner accuses ex-wife of trying to “delay” their divorce
In his motion, Costner explained that his lawyers had been trying to perform a “very basic discovery” to “elicit [Baumgartner’s] contentions as to the validity” of the $1.5 million prenuptial agreement she signed at the beginning of their marriage. According to Costner, his ex has refused to comply with these requests. (Baumgartner has not addressed these allegations publicly yet.)
The filing said in part, “Christine asserts she cannot admit or deny that she understood the Premarital Agreement because she (and apparently all of her attorneys) do not understand the word ‘understood.’ This is gamesmanship of the worst sort.”
The motion went on, “‘Understood’ is not a technical or arcane word. It is not ground for objection that a request is ambiguous, unless it is so ambiguous that the responding party cannot in good faith frame an intelligent reply. The notion that Christine and the multiple seasoned lawyers representing her do not understand the word ‘understood’ and cannot reply to this simple, straightforward [request for admission] is frivolous. Clearly, this vagueness objection was interposed only for the purpose of delay.”
Costner is seeking monetary damages for all the time his lawyers have spent trying to move forward with the proceeding. “Discovery is not a game of chicken. Kevin should never have been required to spend money to file a motion,” the motion said.
Fighting over the Costner family home
Throughout the summer, the legal teams for Costner and Baumgartner have thrown accusations and demands back and forth. Costner, for example, has requested that Baumgartner vacate the home they shared with their children and has also accused her of using his credit card to fund $95,000 in divorce expenses without his knowledge or consent.
In a June 8 letter to the courts, Costner explained why it was extremely important that Baumgartner be forced to vacate his multi-million dollar estate near Santa Barbara. “I was married before, and upon separation, I found myself without a home base and unable to live in my own home,” he said. “I never wanted this to happen again…Thus, when Christine and I began discussing marriage in 2003, I made it clear to her that I would not marry again without clarity that my separate property residences would remain mine to live in no matter what happened in our marriage.”
Costner also elaborated that he had offered to put $1 million toward a new home for his ex and to cover all of her home expenses for the first year.
In response, Baumgartner’s lawyers initially claimed that Costner has no right to kick her out of their home, even though it was one of the stipulations she agreed to in their original prenup. However, Baumgartner did eventually move out of the California home later in the summer.
Baumgartner’s lawyers have also challenged the validity of the prenup altogether, suggesting Baumgartner may not have “understood” what she was signing — hence Costner’s most recent filing in which he challenged that very idea.
The next hearings for their trial are set to take place on August 31 and September 1, respectively.
