Yellowstone star Kevin Costner claims estranged wife Christine Baumgartner is deliberately trying to ‘delay’ divorce… after bizarre wrangle over whether she understood the word ‘understood’ in their prenup
Kevin Costner has accused his estranged wife Christine Baumgartner of deliberately trying to ‘delay’ their divorce proceedings.
The allegation comes after a bizarre legal wrangle over whether Baumgartner understood the use of the word ‘understood’ in their prenuptial agreement.
Costner, 68, now says he had Baumgartner, 49, served with written discovery requests in May to ‘elicit her contentions as to the validity’ of the prenup.
He filed court documents this Thursday requesting financial sanctions against Baumgartner because she has purportedly neglected to reply to the requests.
In a motion obtained by Us Weekly, Costner claimed Baumgartner will not disclose what her contentions even are and complained that she ‘has only thrown roadblock after roadblock up in an unjustified effort to avoid answering this discovery.’
He accused her of having ‘steadfastly refused’ to respond to a ‘very basic discovery’ request involving the ‘facts, documents and witnesses supporting her contentions.’
According to Costner’s motion: ‘Christine asserts she cannot admit or deny that she understood the Premarital Agreement because she (and apparently all of her attorneys) do not understand the word “understood.”‘
The Yellowstone star’s documents argued: ‘This is gamesmanship of the worst sort. “Understood” is not a technical or arcane word.’
Costner’s new legal filing continued: ‘It is not ground for objection that a request is ambiguous, unless it is so ambiguous that the responding party cannot in good faith frame an intelligent reply.
‘The notion that Christine and the multiple seasoned lawyers representing her do not underst and the word “understood” and cannot reply to this simple, straightforward [request for admission] is frivolous. Clearly, this vagueness objection was interposed only for the purpose of delay.’
Costner and Baumgartner tied the knot in 2004, and she filed for divorce this May 1 after 18 years of marriage, launching a battle over their assets and child support.
The battle recently took a head-spinning turn when Costner claimed Christine and her legal team asked for a definition of the word ‘understand’ in reference to whether she understood the terms of their 2004 pre-nup, reports TMZ.
The filing reads: ‘Christine asserts she cannot admit or deny that she understood the Premarital Agreement because she (and apparently all of her attorneys) do not understand the word “understand.”‘
Costner’s attorney Laura Wasser wrote in her latest filing: ‘Christine’s counsel asked for a definition of “understood” and Kevin’s counsel provided the dictionary meaning of the word “understood,” to wit, ‘comprehended or perceive the intended meaning of words.’
Wasser is now asking the judge to make Christine’s lawyers answer the question of whether she understood the prenup or not.
The question that sparked the latest legal battle began with Wasser asking: ‘You understood the legal effect of the premarital agreement before you signed the premarital agreement.
Christine’s lawyer responded: ‘Objection. This request is vague as to the scope and meaning of the terms ‘understood’ … [Christine] is unable to admit or deny the request.
A hearing to address the document’s validity won’t happen until November, and Baumgartner is expected to continue challenging it.
A preliminary move to get Costner’s ex out of their $145 million house indicates that the judge may agree that the rest of the document is also valid.
TMZ reports that Baumgartner will also be forced to return $1.5 million paid to her by Costner if the judge determines that the prenup is valid, and she will also reportedly be forced to pay his attorneys’ fees for defending the document.