Case study · Divorce, income and child supportCostner v. Baumgartner: how courts measure a high earner’s income for child support.
Christine Baumgartner asked for $248,000 a month. The court awarded $63,209. The difference came down to one question forensic accountants are hired to answer: which income is real, recurring income, and which was a peak year?
By Geoff Davis, Fraud Examination ServiceFacts current to November 10, 20269 min read
Fraud Examination Service had no role in this matter. This case study relies on the reporting and public law listed under Sources. Spending claims made by either party in filings are not repeated here.
Two parents, three children, one very irregular income.
Kevin Costner and Christine Baumgartner married in 2004 and have three children.1 She filed for divorce on May 1, 2023, citing irreconcilable differences.3 A prenuptial agreement governed most of the property; it made the family’s Santa Barbara-area home Costner’s premarital property, and the court ordered her to move out by the end of July.5
Child support was the contested issue. In June, Baumgartner asked for $248,000 a month.4 In July the court set a temporary amount of about $129,755 a month, pending an evidentiary hearing.2,6 At that hearing, on August 31 and September 1, 2023, both parents testified and each side called a forensic accountant.7
Judge Thomas Anderle ruled from the bench: $63,209 a month, the figure Costner had proposed, with Costner also paying health insurance, private school, extracurricular costs and other expenses.7
Five months from filing to settlement.
Key dates from contemporaneous reporting; Entertainment Tonight reported from the courtroom.
Divorce filed
Baumgartner files in Santa Barbara County Superior Court.
$248,000 requested
Her filing seeks $248,000 a month plus fees and forensic costs.
Move-out order
The court orders her out of the home by July 31 under the prenup.
Temporary support
About $129,755 a month, pending a full hearing.
Hearing opens
Both parents and both forensic accountants testify.
$63,209 a month
The court adopts Costner’s figure.
Settlement
The parties settle all issues; terms are not disclosed.
Judgment
The divorce is finalized, with joint custody.
Five numbers for the same children.
Few support cases put this many competing figures on the record. Each reflects a different answer to the same question: how much income should support be based on?
Baumgartner’s expert calculated guideline support of $152,681 a month on Costner’s 2022 income, and put the children’s lifestyle need at $332,264 a month.6 Costner argued that the parents simply differed on what “reasonable needs” meant.7
The real dispute: which income counts.
Costner’s income was dominated by one contract. His accountants measured his cash flow over the 30 months to June 30, 2023 and presented two figures: about $1.31 million a month including his Yellowstone earnings, and about $468,000 a month without them.7 Baumgartner’s expert put his average monthly cash flow at about $1.54 million.6
Costner described the Yellowstone years as an aberration.8 In his written statement of reasons, the judge found that Costner’s position preponderated and that applying the guideline formula “would be unjust and inappropriate in this case.”8 He called Baumgartner’s expert competent but said her testimony gave him pause, and described Costner’s expert as very capable.8
Applying the formula would be unjust and inappropriate in this case.Judge Thomas Anderle, statement of reasons, as reported by Entertainment Tonight8
California’s guideline formula is presumed correct, but the presumption can be rebutted where a parent has an extraordinarily high income and the formula amount would exceed the children’s needs.12,13 The current statutory text took effect in September 2024, after this case; the 2023 ruling applied the earlier version.12
How Florida would approach it.
Florida uses a different structure. Under section 61.30 of the Florida Statutes, when the parents’ combined net income exceeds $10,000 a month, support is the schedule amount for $10,000 plus a percentage of the income above it: 5% for one child, 7.5% for two and 9.5% for three, rising to 12.5% for six.14
- Deviation is limited. A court may vary the guideline amount by plus or minus 5%; anything more requires a written finding.14
- Nonrecurring income is treated separately. Gains count as income unless they are nonrecurring, and nonrecurring income may be used if recurring income is insufficient.14
That makes the same forensic question decisive in Florida: separating recurring income from one-time gains, and documenting the difference from tax returns, entity distributions and bank records.
Only 49.5% of custodial parents due support received the full amount.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, P60-28515
Nationally, the Census Bureau reports $29.9 billion of child support due and $19.2 billion received, and the federal child support program distributed $29.5 billion in fiscal 2024.15,16
Six lessons for income analysis.
- 01
Separate recurring from one-time income
A peak year from a single contract is evidence, not a baseline. Show both views.
- 02
Choose and defend a look-back period
Thirty months, three years or five: the period chosen can move income by multiples.
- 03
Reconcile cash flow to the returns
Tie claimed income to tax returns, K-1s, entity distributions and deposits.
- 04
Build the needs budget on evidence
Lifestyle claims carry weight when supported by actual spending records.
- 05
Expect the experts to be weighed
Credibility and method decided this case. Reproducible work survives scrutiny.
- 06
Know the statute that applies
California rebuts the formula for high earners; Florida extends the schedule above $10,000.
Questions people ask.
Short answers drawn from the record. Each links back to the sources below.
After a two-day hearing ending September 1, 2023, Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Thomas Anderle set support at $63,209 a month, the figure Costner proposed, plus health costs, private school and activities. Christine Baumgartner had asked for $161,592 at the hearing, down from $248,000 in June.
The judge accepted that Costner’s peak Yellowstone income was not representative of his ongoing earnings and found that applying the guideline formula would be unjust in this case. California law allows a departure where a parent has an extraordinarily high income and the formula would exceed the children’s needs.
Baumgartner’s expert put his average monthly cash flow at about $1.54 million. Costner’s accountants calculated about $1.31 million a month over 30 months including Yellowstone, and about $468,000 a month without it.
Under Florida Statutes section 61.30, when combined net income exceeds $10,000 a month, support is the schedule amount for $10,000 plus a percentage of the excess, for example 9.5% for three children. Nonrecurring income can be excluded unless recurring income is insufficient.
They reconstruct each parent’s income from tax returns, business records and bank statements, separate recurring income from one-time gains, and test a claimed lifestyle budget against actual spending, so the court can decide what income support should be based on.
Sources and method.
Facts were checked against each source on November 10, 2026. Court figures are taken from reporting by journalists present at the hearing; statutes are cited from official legislative sites. The settlement terms were not made public.
- 1Associated PressKevin Costner and Christine Baumgartner settle divorceSeptember 2023
- 2Page SixKevin Costner ordered to pay estranged wife $63K a month in child supportSeptember 1, 2023
- 3NBC NewsKevin Costner and Christine Baumgartner settle divorceSeptember 19, 2023
- 4TodayKevin Costner’s wife requests $248K a month in child supportJune 2023
- 5NBC NewsKevin Costner’s estranged wife ordered to leave home by end of monthJuly 6, 2023
- 6Entertainment TonightKevin Costner ordered to pay Christine Baumgartner $129,000 in monthly child supportJuly 12, 2023
- 7Entertainment TonightKevin Costner’s child support payments significantly reduced after the judge rules in his favorSeptember 1, 2023
- 8Entertainment TonightJudge explains why he sided with Kevin Costner over child supportSeptember 6, 2023
- 9Entertainment TonightChristine Baumgartner ordered to pay over $14,000 in Kevin Costner’s attorney feesSeptember 6, 2023
- 10Global NewsKevin Costner calls estranged wife’s legal fee request outrageousSeptember 2023
- 11Associated PressKevin Costner’s divorce finalized, with joint custodyFebruary 2024
- 12California Legislative InformationCalifornia Family Code §4055, statewide uniform guidelineCurrent text
- 13California Legislative InformationCalifornia Family Code §4057, presumption and rebuttalCurrent text
- 14The Florida SenateFlorida Statutes §61.30, child support guidelines2025
- 15U.S. Census BureauCustodial Parents and Their Child Support: 2022 (P60-285)2025
- 16U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Child Support ServicesFY 2024 preliminary data report and tablesJuly 17, 2025