Kevin Costner Accuses Ex of ‘Gamesmanship of the Worst Sort’ as Divorce Battle Heats Up

Under the prenup’s terms, Costner’s estranged wife Christine received a $1.5 million payout, which she risks forfeiting by challenging the agreement

Attorneys for Kevin Costner accused the actor’s estranged wife Christine and her legal team of “gamesmanship of the worst sort” in new court documents relating to their divorce.

In a request for order filed in California Superior Court Aug. 10 and obtained by PEOPLE, attorneys for the 68-year-old Yellowstone star have asked the court to compel Christine — who filed for divorce May 1 after 18 years of marriage — to explicitly answer a number of questions they have put to her about the Costners’ premarital agreement.

The lawyers claim Christine, 49, 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.

Under the prenup’s terms, Christine received a $1.5 million payout, which she risks forfeiting by challenging the agreement.

“Four months into this matter, and three months away from the commencement of the trial on the validity of the PMA, Christine refuses to make known all of her contentions regarding the validity of the PMA,” an attorney for Kevin claimed in the new documents.

“The objections she has mustered in an effort to not disclose her contentions are frivolous. She says she does not understand words like ‘understood’ or ‘negotiation,’ so she cannot answer this discovery,” the document further stated.

“She says she does not know what commonly legal phrases like ‘legal effect’ and ‘supersedes’ mean, so she cannot answer this discovery. She refuses to admit (or even deny) that the specific factual representations she and her attorney made in the PMA itself are accurate, to wit, that she understood the PMA, that it was explained to her and that she acknowledged she understood the meaning and legal effect of the PMA,” the lawyer continued.

In a separate statement filed in court the same day, Kevin’s lawyers called Christine’s tactics “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,” wrote the lawyer.

Kevin is also seeking around $14,000 in legal fees he accrued as a result of his legal team trying to elicit answers from Christine. “Discovery is not a game of chicken. Kevin should never have been required to spend money to file a motion,” the request for order stated.

The Oscar winner’s legal team also accused Christine — who recently moved out of the Santa Barbara home where she and Kevin lived with their three children, sons Cayden, 16, and Hayes, 14, and daughter Grace, 13 — of employing stalling tactics and putting Kevin’s side at a disadvantage.

“The bifurcated trial is set to commence on November 27. The discovery cut-off is therefore October 27. Christine’s refusal to make her contentions known and evasive and dilatory discovery responses has unreasonably interfered with Kevin’s right to conduct discovery relevant to the validity of the PMA and to timely prepare for that trial, to his prejudice,” according to the request for order.

An evidentiary hearing related to the trial has been set for Aug. 31 and Sept. 1.