- Kevin Costner and Christine Baumgartner are divorcing
- The proceedings are very long-winded
- HERE is why she may want to rethink her plan
Christine was just dealt a major blow in her case last week as a judge sided with Kevin Costner regarding child support payments — and the hits keep coming. It turns out Kevin will pay about $63,000 in child support payments, but she has to pay something to Kevin as well. A Santa Barbara County judge ordered her to pay some of her estranged husband's attorneys fees during a hearing on Wednesday. She has to now fork over $14,237.50 by Sept. 22, according to Fox News Digital. Neither Christine nor Kevin appeared personally in court for their hearing.
Christine isn't winning everything
On Friday, the judge denied Christine's request to increase monthly child support, which was temporarily set around $129,000, and ended up cutting it in half. This was a big blow for her, as she was looking at more of Kevin's wallet! The decision took effect on Friday.
Court documents obtained by 'Entertainment Tonight', said that the judge reasoned and found that $63,209 per month can meet the needs of the Costner kids — Cayden, 16, Hayes, 14, and Grace, 13 — as Kevin requested. He also previously ruled in favor of Kevin in July, when he ordered that Christine must leave their family home. Since she's the one that filed for divorce in May after 18 years of marriage, and according to the former couple's prenup, she agreed she'd leave the property within 30 days of filing. Unexpectedly so, the judge enforced that condition. Many men see this as a major victory in the courts.
So, where does Christine go from here? Legal experts agree "she needs to reevaluate her strategy."
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Celebrity divorce attorney Chris Melcher told 'Yahoo Entertainment' that she "had a legitimate claim to child support," but "overplayed her hand by asking for ridiculously high amounts."
"There's no doubt the parties had a lavish lifestyle during marriage and that Kevin has extraordinarily high income, but child support is designed to meet the reasonable needs of the children. Christine made herself look greedy by asking for $161,000 per month in child support, as no one would reasonably believe that it would cost that much money to support the children while in her care," he explains. "It was more easy to conclude that Christine wanted this money for her own benefit as disguised alimony."
"California law makes it hard to enforce a premarital agreement that was made in 2002 or later, as these agreements are presumed to have been signed involuntarily. Kevin has already made a preliminary showing that Christine signed the agreement voluntarily, so it will be difficult for Christine to claim otherwise," Melcher begins.
There's plenty of money to be made too! Over the last two years, Kevin has made over $19 million, mostly thanks to 'Yellowstone'. And he's estimated to be worth around $400 million. In court, Kevin claimed his income in recent years was unusually high thanks to the hit Western show, which he is no longer a part of, and the judge agreed.
Is it any wonder she is seeing dollar signs?
