Less than two weeks after settling their contentious child support dispute, Kevin Costner and his estranged wife, Christine Baumgartner, are back in court in yet another bitter dispute, this time over whether the Yellowstone star should fork over nearly a million dollars to cover her attorney’s fees and forensic accounting fees.
In new legal documents filed Monday in Santa Barbara County Court, Costner didn’t mince words in his response to Baumgartner’s request for $885,000, calling the request “outrageous” and “nonsensical.” Baumgartner, in her request, claims she needs $575,000 in attorney’s fees and $280,000 in expert costs to prepare for the upcoming trial to settle their combative discord over whether the spousal support waiver in their premarital agreement is enforceable.
In court documents, obtained by ET, the $885,000 request is to cover 1,106 hours of attorney time at a rate of $800 per hour “simply to prepare for and argue the issue of the validity and enforceability of the spousal support limitation in the PMA now.”
Furthermore, Costner claims the fee declarations Baumgartner submitted in support of her request for $885,000 in fees “are peppered with fabricated allegations.” Costner goes on to argue that Baumgartner’s repeated claims she’s incurred fees and will need prospective fees because he “withheld critical documents” is false. Costner claims he’s “produced more than 10,000 pages of financial documents.” He also points out Baumgartner “fails to identify any ‘critical’ document” that has been withheld from her.
As for the forensic accounting, Costner claims that “the bulk of discovery has already been conducted with document production and deposition of the parties on the issue of child support and thereby gross cash flow for support.” In other words, the forensic accounting has already been exhausted.
“Simply put,” Costner’s documents state, “Christine fails to provide the court with any evidence that 1,106 hours of attorney time at $800 per hour is necessary to prepare” for this upcoming trial. Costner also calls out any future forensic accounting work needed — and the money needed to pay those fees — as either irrelevant or already completed.
In short, Costner wants the court to deny Baumgartner’s $885,000 request for attorney’s and accounting fees.
Costner’s filing comes less than a week after the judge in the case sanctioned Baumgartner and ordered her to pay his $14,237.50 attorney’s fees after he claimed she refused to answer, “without justification,” basic discovery even though she had every opportunity to do so for nearly three months to answer his “straightforward discovery requests” but failed to do so.
As ET previously reported, Costner accused Baumgartner of using “stalling tactics” to drag out the tumultuous divorce battle. His legal team also slammed Baumgartner’s claim that she did not understand their prenup agreement when she signed it, calling the so-called tactic “gamesmanship of the worst sort.” He added that this “silly rhetoric … just reinforces the game playing.”
Earlier this month, the judge also sided with Costner when he ordered his monthly child support payments drastically reduced.
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