Los Angeles: Actor Kevin Costner has accused his estranged wife Christine Baumgartner of deliberately trying to “delay” their divorce proceedings.
‘The Untouchables’ actor, 68, called it quits with Baumgartner in May after 19 years of marriage.
As per Aceshowbiz, despite having a prenuptial agreement in place, the estranged couple have been locked in dispute over issues including finances, child support for their kids Cayden (16), Hayes (14), and Grace (13), and their family home.
“Christine has only thrown roadblock after roadblock up in an unjustified effort to avoid answering this discovery,” he wrote in court documents obtained by ‘Us Weekly’ magazine.
He accused her of having “steadfastly refused” to respond to a “very basic discovery” request involving the “facts, documents and witnesses supporting her contentions”.
Costner is seeking financial sanctions against Baumgartner for allegedly failing to respond to the discovery requests he sent in May, which he explained were designed to “elicit her contentions as to the validity” of their prenuptial agreement.
The documents read, “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’. This is gamesmanship of the worst sort.”
“‘Understood’ is not a technical or arcane word. 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 understand 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 Baumgartner 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.
–IANS