Kevin Costner’s attorneys are firing back at his estranged wifeChristine’s claims that she felt pressured to sign their prenuptial agreement.
The pair married in 2004 with a prenup in place, a decade after Kevinreportedly paid his ex-wife Cindy Silvasome $80 million in his first divorce. On May 1, Christine, 49, filed for divorce after 18 years of marriage,challenging the termsof the pre-marital agreement.
Gonzalo Marroquin/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
“This contradicts the unambiguous language in the PMA wherein Christine represented in all caps that she ‘voluntarily’ and ‘free from duress, fraud or undue influence’ entered into the agreement,” lawyers for Kevin, 68, wrote. “Christine cannot have her cake and eat it too.”
Lawyers for Christine did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Kevin Costner and Christine in March 2022.Lionel Hahn/Getty
Lionel Hahn/Getty
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Kevin’s lawyers claim Christine has avoided answering questions — including whether or not she understood the agreement before she signed it — throughout the discovery process as both legal teams prepare for the November trial to determine the validity of the prenup.
“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,'” Kevin’s lawyers wrote. “This is gamesmanship of the worst sort. ‘Understood’ is not a technical or arcane word.”
Kevin Costner, Christine and kids in 2019.Albert L. Ortega/Getty
Christine’s July 5 filing called out Kevin’s move to have her pay his legal fees: “Kevin asserts that he should not have to pay fees and costs for Christine to challenge the validity of the PMA. He also regularly claims that the PMA is valid and that there is no evidence to the contrary. This is the legal equivalent of whistling past the graveyard.”
Separately, Kevin was ordered to temporarily pay $129,755 per month in child support until future court dates. The ruling is retroactive, meaning that child support will have to be paid forward or back dating back to July 1 if changes are made in the final ruling of the case.
source: people.com
