Kidnap fraudster Sherri Papini cries poverty in custody battle against ex-husband Keith, demanding he pay her $30,000 legal fees while she lives in a luxurious four-bedroom home owned by her boyfriend

The California woman who faked her own abduction in a Gone Girl style plot is pursuing the husband she hoodwinked for $30,000 in legal fees to cover the cost of a custody fight she started – despite living a luxury lifestyle bankrolled by her wealthy new lover.

Sherri Papini, 41, was jailed in 2022 over the plot that saw her vanish for three weeks in November 2016 and then lie to cops and her husband Keith about a kidnap she invented

The mom-of-two – who instead was with an ex-boyfriend at the time she was missing – is now living in a $755,000 mansion paid for by her boyfriend, a widowed auto dealer from Orland, California, and driving a brand-new Jeep SUV.

She is also battling for more access to children Tyler, 14, and Violet, 12 – a notion vigorously opposed by her ex who wants her to undertake a psychological evaluation and be barred from seeing them unsupervised.

Despite her privileged existence, Papini pled poverty in an April court filing and is attempting to force Keith to pony up $30,000 to pay for her share of the legal fight.

Sherri Papini (left), 41, who was jailed in 2022 for faking her own abduction, is asking her ex-husband to pay for her $30,000 legal fees in custody battle

Keith Papini is vigorously opposed to allowing his ex more access to their children and wants her to undertake a psychological evaluation and be barred from seeing them unsupervised

Sherri told the court she only makes $1,000 a month and has to pay half of that in rent, despite living in a $755k mansion owned by her boyfriend Shawn Hibdon

She is also demanding he hand over an array of items from the marital home in Redding, among them ‘Grandpa’s truck, an inflatable water slide, a leaf blower and a smart TV'.

An expense declaration obtained by DailyMail.com shows that the petite blonde claims to have an income of just $1,000-a-month, half of which she says she pays out in rent.

She was previously awarded just $10,000 in her divorce and ordered to pay half of a $3,000 debt she racked up on a BestBuy credit card after she was arrested in April 2022.

As DailyMail.com revealed on Wednesday, her landlord is none other than new man, widowed auto dealer Shawn Hibdon who purchased the property under an LLC in January.

The four-bedroom home has a monthly rental value of $3,294 per month according to the website Zillow – more than six times what Papini claims to pay.

The pair, who were caught on camera enjoying a steamy make-out session on the backseat of her Jeep in a Starbucks parking lot in Orland, California, had been trying to keep their romance under wraps – with Papini making no mention of Hibdon in her court application for more time with her children.

Instead, the court filing describes how she lives in ‘a beautiful new home’ in Shingletown, California, where she boasts that the children will be allowed their own rooms, adding that she plans to decorate them to their liking.

Papini also claims to have a normal routine and a stable job – a ‘consultant’ position she says she has with a small LA based literary agency called Lady Moon Entertainment.

Documents obtained by DailyMail.com show Keith is opposing both the cash grab and increasing the amount of time the convicted fraudster gets to spend with their children

On an expense declaration Sherri claims to pay $500 in rent to live in this sprawling home with a monthly rental value of $3,294 per month owned by her beau

Sherri claimed her parents work out of her new home, but DailyMail.com visited the home, there was no sign of either parent – just Hibdon’s gray Hyundai in the driveway

The pair, who made out in a Starbucks parking lot, have been trying to keep their romance under wraps – with Papini making no mention of Hibdon in her court application

The filing adds that she has taken part in parenting classes and weekly therapy sessions and moans ‘I am also monitored by a probation officer as well as by the media and have participated fully in the process of reentry and rehabilitation.'

Papini’s parents Richard and Loretta also live in the remote mountain town, which is 27 miles from her former home in Redding. and, according to the April filing, work at the her property.

‘Additionally, my parents work on the property of my house so they will be around to share their love and warmth with their grandchildren,’ she wrote in the April filing.

Papini added: ‘My whole life has been planned around my children and I will continue to adjust to their needs for the rest of my life.’

When DailyMail.com visited the home, there was no sign of either parent – although Hibdon’s gray Hyundai was parked on the driveway.

Documents obtained by DailyMail.com show Keith is opposing both the cash grab and increasing the amount of time the convicted fraudster gets to spend with their children, although he said during a June 10 hearing that he is happy for her to speak to the children weekly.

In his response to the demand filed on May 7, the betrayed husband said Papini should not be allowed unsupervised access to the children and said he would not force his son Tyler to attend the sessions.

Keith filed for divorce in April 2022 and sought to maintain sole custody of their children Tyler, 11, and Violet, 9 after her August 2023 release

Sherri when she went missing for three weeks in 2016. The hoax unraveled years later and she was arrested on fraud charges and lying to law enforcement in March 2022 

She is also demanding he hand over an array of items from the marital home in Redding, among them ‘Grandpa’s truck, an inflatable water slide, a leaf blower and a smart TV'

He also said he cannot pay her legal fees and is only covering his own with assistance from his family after being laid off from his job in Best Buy's Geek Squad.

Keith added: ‘Based on her account, she has a stable job and a beautiful new home which would suggest she can provide for herself, including attorney fees.

‘I am hard pressed to imagine how I can be responsible for past attorney fees which apparently included out of town trips to visit Ms. Papini in prison.

‘Obviously I am not the person responsible for her actions but one of the many who suffered because of them.’

At the June 10 hearing, which saw the former couple exchange frosty looks while their attorneys argued, Judge Kathryn Barton agreed that the case would go to trial but no date has yet been set.