What the Kevin Costner divorce can teach us about family law

Is 2023 the year of the celebrity divorce?

After 18 years of marriage, Kevin Costner and Christine Baumgartner have called it quits. Ms. Baumgartner (the Petitioner) filed for divorce in California in May, and a settlement was reached four months later, not without drama.

Temporary orders granted Ms. Baumgartner $129,000 per month in child support payments. As for other logistics, she was requesting to remain in the family home, but that request was denied on July 7, forcing Baumgartner to find her own place.

In August, she took her ex to court to request the monthly child support payment increase to $248,000 per month. Her motion was denied, and monthly child support payments were lowered from $129,000 per month to $63,209.

She was asking for a monthly increase of $119,000 and instead got a monthly decrease of more than $65,000, and it has our clients asking questions.

How can she request that much? How does the court calculate child support? Can the judge really decrease monthly support payments? Will I have to move out of my family home? Can my ex and I decide on some of these things or does a judge just make a ruling?

Let’s back up for a moment.

No one ever knows what goes on behind closed doors, or in the confidence of a client and his or her legal counsel, but this situation is sticky from a lot of angles. My first thought when the ask for more was made and Ms. Baumgartner actually got less than her baseline was: well, I hope her lawyer warned her, nothing is for sure when in front of the family law bench.

The divorce ended up being settled behind the scenes, but this is not to say the lives of the nuclear family have forever been changed. And guess what?

Coaching can help!