The “Yellowstone” actor testified Friday against his estranged wife over child support for their three teenage children: Cayden, Hayes and Grace
Kevin Costner testifies at child support hearing amid divorce from wife Christina.
The Yellowstone The actor, 68, testified Friday in a Santa Barbara, Calif., court during the second day of a hearing to resolve Christine’s request for $175,057 a month in child support — a $46,000 increase from the $129,000 he currently receives from Costner.
On the stand, Costner was asked if his Santa Barbara estate and Christine’s new $40,000 rental home were “fair.” Costner said he believes the two properties are “comparable” but “I don’t believe they are equal.”
“I think I know what fair means,” he added.
During Costner’s testimony, Christine, 49, did not meet the actor’s eyes, looked down or at her lawyer, and did not react when he called her his wife. (She filed for divorce in May.)
After looking at the figures in her monthly expense report, the Oscar winner asked: “Is that after the date she dumped me?”, referring to Christine.
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Kevin and Christine Costner on November 8, 2014 in Hollywood, California.
Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic
Kevin Costner seen at a court hearing to resolve Christine’s request for increased child support
The Field of dreams the star was also asked how the kids generally use their Santa Barbara property, saying that sons Cayden, 16, and Hayes, 14, plus daughter Grace, 13, “mostly play on the driveway that Christine laid out for them.”
Asked if he himself would live in the property that Christine is currently renting for $40,000 a month, the actor said, “No, I wouldn’t, but it’s not because it doesn’t compare,” adding of his current home, “I’ve raised three kids in to that house. It’s a beach house. Their hands are set in stone.”
“I’d like some features of that house, to be quite honest,” he remarked of his ex’s rental.
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Kevin Costner at the Pre-Grammy Awards Event on February 4, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California; Christine Costner at the Elton John AIDS Foundation’s 30th Annual Academy Awards on March 27, 2022 in West Hollywood, California.
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Jamie McCarthy/Getty
Costner’s turn to testify comes a day after Christine did. On Thursday, Christina’s lawyer John Rydell said the lifestyle Christina and Costner’s three children are used to is “in their DNA at this point.”
At the forum, Christine explained how the reduction in financial status would affect their children. She said in part that their children are “very connected to the ocean — it’s their home,” and noted that the surf garage is 50 steps away from their “toes in the water.”
Christine is currently receiving $129,000 a month in child support for the couple after she filed for divorce. The couple was married for 18 years.
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David Fisher/Shutterstock (2)
In an opening statement Thursday, Rydell said they are reducing the amount of the child support claim to $161,592 a month, according to the latest estimate by a forensic accountant. The new amount remains higher than Costner’s proposal of $60,000 a month, which his lawyers presented during the hearing.
The mother of three’s legal filing obtained by PEOPLE on Aug. 26 states that “forensics determined that [Kevin’s] the average cash flow available for support for the biennium 2021 and 2022 was $19,248,467 per year ($1,604,039 per month).””Based on this cash flow and the 50/50 parenting time share, the child support guidelines, which is assumed to be correct under California law, is $175,057 per month,” the documents continue.
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Kevin and Christine Costner with their children in Los Angeles on August 1, 2019. Albert L. Ortega/Getty The Complete Timeline of Kevin Costner and Christine Baumgartner’s Divorce
A court document obtained by PEOPLE ahead of the hearing continued: “Christine is filing this motion to uphold the principles of Family Law and to ensure that the parties’ three minor children will continue to benefit from the lifestyle made possible by Kevin’s substantial earnings and wealth. “
Additionally, according to those legal documents, Costner’s “various accounts and entities had a total of $17,293,117 in cash equivalents as of June 30, 2023, giving him sufficient funds to pay child support as well as to pay attorney fees and costs for both sides. ”
According to those court documents, “$175,057 per month will not be sufficient to replicate Kevin’s lifestyle, but it will be sufficient to allow her to provide the children with a relatively comparable lifestyle.”
If the request is granted, the order will be “retroactive to July 1,” according to the court filing.
The documents added: “The court is required to set child support at a level that, when the children are with Christine, they live a lifestyle relatively comparable to that they enjoy when they are with their father.”
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