Kevin Costner filed new divorce documents requesting his estranged wife, Christine Baumgartner, admit to the validity of their premarital agreement (PMA.)
Documents obtained by Fox News Digital show a “memorandum of points and authorities” which state that the Petitioner (Christine) “refused in bad faith to make known her contentions regarding the parties’ premarital agreement by refusing to admit or deny requests for admissions and answer form interrogatory No. 17.1.”
“Christine avoids answering many of the Requests for Admission (“RFAs”) based on the claim that the ordinary words used, words like “understood” and “negotiation” are too vague,” the docs stated.
In addition, the “Yellowstone” actor requested Christine pay “reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs incurred” in the amount of $14,237.50. The Request for Order (RFO) asked a Santa Barbara court to establish a response from Christine within seven calendar days of the hearing date in November.
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Baumgartner filed for divorce from Costner in May after 18 years of marriage citing “irreconcilable differences.” The estranged couple has three children together. Costner has three children with ex-wife, Cindy Silva, and one son from a previous relationship.
Costner’s legal team, headed by celebrity divorce lawyer Laura Wasser, argued that Christine could have answered questions about the premarital agreement during the discovery in May, which was designed to “elicit her contentions as to the validity of the PMA.”
“Christine avoids answering RFAs by claiming she does not know what her contentions are,” the docs state. “Christine avoids answering many of the RFAs by claiming they seek privileged attorney-client communications when they do not.”
They added, “They seek only to have her admit that the factual representations she made and her lawyer made in the PMA were true – matters about which the parties in the PMA expressly waived the attorney client and work product privileges “to the extent of the factual representations contained in the ‘Attorney Certification’ forms and the factual acknowledgments contained in this agreement.”
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Costner also argued the $14,237.50 monetary sanctions requested to be paid by Christine are required due to “misuses of the discovery process, which include failing to respond to discovery, making an evasive response to discovery and opposing without substantial justification a motion to compel discovery.”
“Four months into this matter, and three months away from the commencement of the trial on the validity of the PMA, Christine refuses to make known all of her contentions regarding the validity of the PMA,” the documents stated. “The objections she has mustered in an effort to not disclose her contentions are frivolous. She says she does not understand words like ‘understood’ or ‘negotiation,’ so she cannot answer this discovery.”
Costner’s team argued, “She says she does not know what commonly legal phrases like ‘legal effect’ and ‘supersedes’ mean, so she cannot answer this discovery.
“She refuses to admit (or even deny) that the specific factual representations she and her attorney made in the PMA itself are accurate, to wit, that she understood the PMA, that it was explained to her and that she acknowledged she understood the meaning and legal effect of the PMA.”
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Documents stated, “Discovery is not a game of chicken. Kevin should never have been required to spend money to file a motion to obtain admissions (or denials) that, inter alia, Christine understood the PMA when she signed it, she did not sign the PMA under undue influence, that she never entered into any written transmutation agreements transmuting separate property to community property or that the factual representations made by her own attorney in the Attorney Certification are true.”
A new hearing date was set for Sept. 6.
Following Baumgartner’s divorce filing, the estranged couple both filed for joint custody of their three children: Cayden, 16, Hayes, 14, and Grace, 13.
A judge ruled in July that Christine could not take any items from the $145 million Carpinteria, Calif. compound they once shared before moving out, per their premarital agreement.
“Christine shall be permitted to remove her toiletries, clothing, hand bags and jewelry from Kevin’s Beach Club Road residence,” according to the judge’s ruling, obtained by Fox News Digital.
“Christine is prohibited from removing any other items from the property, including, but not limited to furniture, furnishings, appliances and artwork from the Beach Club Road residences and from any storage unit maintained by the parties, whether jointly or individually absent a written agreement executed or by the parties or further court order.”
Costner must pay Baumgartner $129,755 monthly in child support.
