The estranged couple's legal battle continued this week.
Kevin Costner's complicated divorce proceedings with estranged wife Christine Baumgartner continued this week, as the Yellowstone star requested that his ex pay him $100,000 in legal fees related to their ongoing court battle.
In legal documents obtained by ET and filed on Thursday, Christine asked the court to deny Kevin's request to pay $100,000 of his legal fees, claiming he wouldn't have incurred them if she had moved out of the Southern California home -- which has been a major point of contention in the couple's messy divorce -- in a timely manner.
Christine argues that Kevin could have avoided the legal fees by simply waiting for their pre-determined November court date, rather than filing an additional motion in July, requesting that she move out of their house earlier than Aug. 31, a date Christine had previously agreed to. A hearing on the legal fees has been scheduled for Aug. 2 in Santa Barbara.
Christine filed for divorce on May 1 after 18 years of marriage. According to court documents obtained by ET, Christine cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for the dissolution of the marriage, and she listed April 11 as the date of separation.
After she filed for divorce, Kevin responded with his own legal documents, saying he also wanted joint custody of their children and that they have a prenuptial agreement. The prenuptial agreement would ultimately become a strong point of contention.
The divorce case turned ugly fast. According to court documents obtained by ET, Kevin claimed Christine would not move out of their Southern California home despite a prenup stipulation that he claimed required her to do just that.
Kevin claimed that the prenup she signed when they tied the knot in 2014 stipulated that Christine agreed, in the event of a divorce, the actor would have exclusive possession and use of his separate property residences, and that she would vacate any separate property family residence she was living in within 30 days of the filing of a divorce petition.
In her response, Christine stated she would not move out of the property unless Kevin agreed to various financial demands. For his part, Kevin claimed that he had already made a contribution to Christine's attorney's and accountant's fees, paid her the $1.2 million due to her under the terms of their prenup, made a comprehensive temporary child support and fee proposal, has agreed to and has maintained the financial status quo, and is continuing to pay all of their children's expenses.
The estranged couple's prenup stipulated that Kevin would pay a $200,000 down payment for Christine's new residence and cover its monthly mortgage, property tax, and insurance payments for one year, all of which Kevin said in the docs he was prepared to do.
The pair has also had serious legal squabbles over Christine's requested child support amount for their three shared children. Costner initially agreed to fork over $51,940 per month in child support, but Christine responded by saying it wasn't enough to cover her and her children's expenses, and calling the figure "completely inappropriate."
After a hearing in July, a judge ultimately ordered Costner to pay $129,000 per month in child support on a temporary basis. An evidentiary hearing was set for November, when the temporary child support payments are subject to possible change depending on what transpires at the hearing.
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