David Hookstead
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Kevin Costner’s estranged wife Christine Baumgartner wants the star actor to fork over a massive amount of money in child support payments.
Baumgartner recently filed for divorce from the “Yellowstone” actor, and the situation is turning ugly. She’s reportedly refusing to move out of one of his homes, despite a prenup agreement stating she has to go after filing for divorce.
Now, she’s coming for some child support cash.
Christine Baumgartner wants huge child support payments.
Court documents show Christine is demanding $248,000 a month in child support for their three children, who are between the ages of 16 and 13, according to People.
She’s also demanding Kevin Costner pay for the three children’s school tuition, healthcare and extracurricular activities, according to the same report.
Costner, who made more than $19.5 million in 2022, is offering to pay $38,000 a month in child support plus costs of school, camps, healthcare and other expenses that might fall under that umbrella.
I’m not a math expert, but a gap of $210,000 in monthly child support expectations and requests seems sizable.
Will Kevin Costner fork over the money?
I ran the numbers through a California child support calculator and Christine’s demand isn’t too far off from what might get handed out for someone of Costner’s income level.
It’s a bit high, but it’s not terribly high. The question is whether or not she’ll actually get it. She wants just under $3 million annually PLUS extra expenses like tuition to take care of their three children.
That’s a ton of money, and it’ll be coming for several more years. The good news for Costner is he should be able to afford that amount – as painful as it might be. He’s been rich for a very long time and he made nearly $20 million last year alone.
However, it can’t ever be fun to write child support checks worth $3 million. That’s even truer when he’s only open to paying $38,000 a month as of right now. That’s a huge gap.
Kevin Costner, who is on his way out the door on “Yellowstone,” might wish there were a few more seasons on the way with big paydays attached if he finds himself shelling out $3 million annually to his ex-wife.
Of course, everything is a negotiation and this is just the opening salvo. It’s highly likely that number gets negotiated down. However, his $38,000 a month hope is almost certainly not going to fly. Prepare for chaos in the negotiating room.
