'Highly Dubious': Kevin Costner's Estranged Wife Refusing to Pay Actor's $100k Legal Bill, Accuses His Team of 'Unreasonable Charges' in $400 Million Divorce War

Kevin Costner’s estranged wife has accused the Yellowstone actor’s lawyers of allegedly inflating the $100k legal bill he wants her to pay in their brutal bare-knuckle divorce battle over his $400 million fortune, RadarOnline.com can exclusively report.

Christine Baumgartner took a sledgehammer to Costner’s pit bull lawyers in court documents asking a judge to reject the Tin Cup actor’s request to force the mother of three to pay the legal fees during the nasty fight to evict her from his prized $145 million compound.

Baumgartner, 49, also walloped the beloved Oscar winner for being “obstreperous” during the legal scrum that erupted on May 1, 2023, when she slapped Costner with divorce papers after 18 years of marriage.

Baumgartner refused to move out of their Carpinteria, California home until he agreed to pay up to $248k a month in child support – pending a hearing on the validity of the premarital agreement (PMA) that required her to move out within 30 days of filing for divorce.

Costner demanded his ex pay his $100k legal bill after a Santa Barbara Superior Court judge ordered Baumgartner to vacate the property by July 31 and forced the Hidden Figures star to pay $129k a month in child support. Costner’s legal team argued the PMA mandates that the spouse that initiates a dispute must pay all legal costs.

But Baumgartner has accused Costner’s renowned legal eagle Laura Wasser and her notorious co-counsel Jacqueline Misho of allegedly cooking the books.

“Apparently, his deep pockets contributed to the exorbitant fees his attorneys charged for the work they performed,” Baumgartner charged in legal documents.

“For example, it appears the Wasser firm charged Kevin nearly $8,000 for two attorneys to drive to Santa Barbara to join Kevin’s local counsel, Ms. Misho, at the hearing on the Kick-Out RFO (request for order) after receiving the Court’s tentative decision the day before. Yet, neither participated, opting instead to have Ms. Misho speak on Kevin’s behalf.”

“They could have saved Kevin almost the entire amount by appearing by Zoom, and now Kevin wants to pass this patently unreasonable charge on to Christine,” she noted in court documents.

Baumgartner claimed parts of the billing line items are redacted so her legal team doesn’t know the reason for the cost or if it’s even related to her being kicked out of the home. What’s more, some of Misho’s charges are not even related to the eviction, she charged.

By comparison, Baumgartner said her legal team spent $34,000 – while Wasser and Misho are charging the JFK star nearly “three times” that amount for the same legal skirmish.

“It is highly dubious that Kevin’s attorneys’ efforts reasonably justified $100,000 for this one RFO,” she charged.

Baumgartner also accused Misho of falsely accusing her of refusing to negotiate a financial settlement to vacate the compound and of allegedly trying to “leverage” the $248k monthly support payment.

“Both of the above statements are demonstrably false,” said Baumgartner who provided the court with two letters clearly showing her attorney, John R. Rydell II offering a lower child support payment.

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“By contrast, Kevin sought to use his virtually unlimited resources to kick Christine out of her home, to vastly underpay child support, and to deprive Christine of an equal playing field when it came to divorce fees and costs,” the court documents stated.

“Therefore, it is absurd for him to now distort Christine’s position and claim that he had to resort to an expensive RFO to get her to leave, especially when her June 29th (settlement) offer, if accepted, would have had her vacating the family home just 15 days after the date on which the Court ordered her to leave.”

She added: “It only served to drive up litigation costs and foment animus.”

Wasser and Misho were unavailable for comment.