Though Kevin Costner’s ongoing divorce from Christine Baumgartner hit a relatively peaceful spell for a while, the court-sourced news cycle seems to be heating up again. Perhaps expectedly, it’s once again tied to demands being laid out by the handbag designer as it pertains to the Yellowstone star’s financial status, as well as her own living situation.
Baumgartner filed divorce paperwork requesting the court take a second look at the amount of money Costner was previously set to pay as child support — $129,000 per month — with the argument that it’s just not nearly enough to make sure their shared children have the same level of comfort with her as they do when staying at their father’s beach home. According to TMZ, she noted a second cause for her request beyond her kids’ lifestyle concerns, which is connected to her having gained more insight into how much money Costner has been bringing in over the years.
- Keeping The Kids Comfortable
Part of the paperwork filed cites that Kevin Costner flies their children private whenever they go on family vacations, such as their outing to Aspen in late July soon after they returned from a Hawaii trip with Baumgartner. She is seeking to raise the child support payments from $129K/month to $175K/month, and with this as part of the justification and explaination for the raised funding:
So that the children can go on comparable vacations when they are with her. This is true even if the child support payments also improve Christine's lifestyle.
Christine Baumgartner states that California family code requires those payments to be larger than the initial amount that was agreed upon. The request is also likely connected to her own living situation, as she's temporarily residing in a vacation rental, but will be making a more permanent shift in September to a rental located in Montecito that will set her back upwards of $40,000 each month.
But in case anyone thought her soon-to-be home compared at all to Kevin Costner's digs, Baumgartner apparently cited in the paperwork that the rental does not have the scenic views or beach-front access that his mansion does, and nor is it within walking distance to a beach.
- Baumgartner Says Costner Can Definitely Afford To Pay More
Kevin Costner's first marriage ended with his ex Cindy Silva getting an $80 million windfall in the divorce, and the prenup that he set up with Christine Baumgartner was meant to avoid a similar situation. But during their divorce proceedings, she's directly pointed out how much money he's reportedly worth, and apparently gained even more insight into what he's been earning, and what's coming soon.
By her measures, the Oscar winner made $11 million for filming Yellowstone Season 4, and another $10 million for his work on Season 5. What's more, she says he's set to bring in $12 million for each of the first two Horizon films that he filmed earlier this year amidst the chaos happening on Taylor Sheridan's TV western. Costner allegedly averaged $19.24 million in earnings over the last two years, which equals out to around $1.6 million per month. As such, she claims he's more than capable of boosting his child support payments by $46,000 each month.
Is it just pure coincidence that her latest request is very close to the amount of money that she'll be paying monthly for her Montecito rental home? Sure, why not. And even if it's not, it's all for the kids, right? Stay tuned to see which side of the well-maintained fenceline the judge lands on.
