Kevin Costner’s Estranged Wife Hits Back at Latest Filing in Divorce

Kevin Costner's estranged wife, Christine Baumgartner, is hitting back at the actor's latest legal filing in their ongoing divorce, claiming he has no standing for asking her to vacate the home they shared while they were married.

Costner recently filed a motion asking the court to force Baumgartner to vacate their marital residence in accordance with a pre-marital agreement they signed before they wed in 2004. Costner says he owned that house before he married Baumgartner, and their prenuptial agreement states that she is supposed to have moved out within one month after filing for divorce on May 1, but she remains.

In court documents Insider obtained, Baumgartner's attorney, John Rydell, writes, "This RFO (request for order) seeks to kick Christine and their three children out of the house that the children have lived in for their entire lives."

"Although the legal basis for Kevin's request to kick his wife and children out of their home is all but nonexistent, this is still a matter of critical importance for Christine," Rydell adds. His filing criticizes Costner's attorney, Laura Wasser, for not agreeing to delay a hearing on the matter.

Costner and Baumgartner have three children together, and each party is requesting joint custody. In Costner's filing, he says he has already given Baumgartner $1.2 million under the terms of their prenuptial agreement and that he's paid Baumgartner a total of $1.45 million, which she has access to in order to find another place to live.

The Oscar-winning actor and director also says he'll advance $10,000 for Baumgartner's moving costs and pay $30,000 per month toward a rental house as part of his child support obligations. His filing accuses Baumgartner of staying in the house so she can leverage her position to make "various financial demands," and Costner says that his editing studio is contiguous to the house, so he needs to be able to move back in to work on the editing phase of his current film project.

"It’s disingenuous to bring the kids into this," a source close to Costner tells People. "This has nothing to do with the kids. The kids’ foundation is solid. This is all about Christine. Kevin has gone above and beyond in providing Christine the necessary means to find a suitable place for her to move."

A source told People in May that Costner knew his wife was unhappy with his packed schedule as he balanced his role on Yellowstone with directing, producing and starring in his upcoming four-part epic Western, Horizon, but her filing for divorce still caught him by surprise.

He's also been in a standoff with the producers of Yellowstone since February over his shooting schedule for the second half of Yellowstone Season 5, which conflicts with his schedule for Horizon. Paramount confirmed on May 5 that Yellowstone will return for the second half of Season 5 in November, and the show will come to an end with those episodes. The network's announcement did not address Costner's participation, and sources have said that the show will kill off his character of John Dutton early on in the run of new episodes.

Paramount will launch a new sequel to Yellowstone directly after the show ends, with Matthew McConaughey all but confirmed to star alongside some of the original cast members.

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