A court filing from actor Kevin Costner says his estranged wife, Christine Baumgartner, refuses to move out of his home in the Santa Barbara, California, area amid their divorce.
According to court documents obtained by NBC News, Costner says their prenuptial agreement gave Baumgartner 30 days to vacate the home, which he says was a premarital asset he purchased in 1988, 16 years before they tied the knot.
Baumgartner filed for divorce on May 1 after 18 years of marriage, citing irreconcilable differences. The two share three children: Cayden, 16; Hayes, 14; and Grace, 13.
In documents filed Friday in Santa Barbara County Superior Court, Costner and his legal team maintain Baumgartner signed a prenuptial agreement agreeing to terms that included Costner’s keeping the home in question in Carpinteria.
“Christine has not moved out, despite multiple requests that she do so and despite Kevin’s offers to assist her financially in relocating to a new residence,” Costner's legal team wrote in the documents. “Instead, Christine has taken the position that she will not move out of Kevin’s separate property residence unless and until Kevin agrees to various financial demands.”
Costner said in a declaration included in the filing that when he and Baumgartner began to discuss getting married in 2003, he told her it was important to him to “have a home to go to.”
“I was married once before and, upon separation, l found myself without a home base and unable to live in my own home,” he said in the documents. “I never wanted this to happen again."
He said: "Thus, when Christine (Baumgartner) and I began discussing marriage in 2003, l made it clear to her that I would not marry again without clarity that my separate property residences would remain mine to live in no matter what happened in our marriage. Christine acknowledged to me at the time that she understood the importance of this to me and she agreed to this provision.”
The filing also says the prenuptial agreement stipulated that he pay Baumgartner $100,000 upon their marriage and another $100,000 on their first anniversary, which he did. He was also required to pay Baumgartner $1 million after she filed for divorce, the documents say.
The prenup also requires he give Baumgartner a $200,000 deposit to help her buy a new home and pay property taxes and homeowners insurance for a year. Costner says he has also offered to pay thousands of dollars for moving costs, to use his “existing staff” to help her move and to add $38,000 a month on top of his prenuptial agreement for child support of $30,000 a month, according to the filing.
Costner’s court filing says Baumgartner told him she plans to “at least” challenge the spousal support waiver in the prenup.
Baumgartner’s team did not respond to a request for comment; neither did Costner.
