Fantastic Four actor Ioan Gruffudd and his former wife, Alice Evans, have one final opportunity to settle their bitter dispute over finances and custody of their two daughters before facing an expensive nine-day trial.
Gruffudd appeared composed at Santa Monica Courthouse on Friday, wearing a tailored navy suit, a light blue button-up shirt and black dress shoes, along with polarized designer sunglasses.
Evans, 57, did not attend the brief hearing.
The original deadline for a settlement was December 19. Judge Michael Convey had ordered the former couple, their attorneys Joseph Langlois and Janina Verano, to attend a closed-door “mandatory settlement conference” on December 4.
However, the parties failed to resolve several key issues after more than two hours of negotiations. The outstanding disputes include Gruffudd’s request to end his spousal support payments and extend a restraining order against Evans over allegations that she has stalked him and his wife, Bianca Wallace, 33, and attacked them online.
Evans, meanwhile, is asking the court to increase the $1,500 in monthly spousal support she currently receives from Gruffudd.
The judge overseeing Ioan Gruffudd and Alice Evans’ dispute over money and custody has given the former couple one last chance to reach a settlement before a costly nine-day trial
Gruffudd and Evans, who share daughters Ella, 16, and Elsie, 12, finalized their divorce in 2023 and have remained embroiled in disputes over custody, restraining orders and finances
Gruffudd and Wallace recently welcomed a daughter, Mila. The actor also shares Ella, 16, and Elsie, 12, with Evans.
Although the sides reached an impasse earlier this month, their lawyers persuaded the judge to permit another attempt at a settlement. A second “mandatory settlement conference” has been scheduled for January 6.
If the negotiations fail, the case is scheduled to go to trial in February 2026. The proceedings are expected to address the restraining order, spousal support and the couple’s other unresolved disputes.
After Friday’s hearing, Langlois struck an upbeat tone, telling DailyMail.com exclusively: “We are still working on it, and we expect to settle, maybe in the next week or two.”
In court documents filed in recent months and uncovered by Our News Outlet, Evans claimed she had become so financially strained that she borrowed money from friends and launched a GoFundMe campaign that brought in $18,000.
Evans also said she and their daughters urgently need increased spousal support after being evicted from their Los Angeles home for failing to pay the $6,500 monthly rent.
Gruffudd left court on Friday after his attorney, Joseph Langlois, and Evans’ lawyer secured another mandatory settlement conference, which is scheduled for January 6
Gruffudd wants to end spousal support and extend a restraining order over allegations that Evans has stalked him and attacked him and his wife, Bianca Wallace, 33, online; the couple welcomed daughter Mila on November 2
She said she had been forced to “burn through” her savings to cover everyday living costs and legal bills.
Evans also argued that Gruffudd, who married Wallace in April, could afford to pay more than the $3,000 monthly child support and $1,500 spousal support he currently provides.
Gruffudd has rejected his former wife’s financial demands. In his own court filing, he accused Evans of deliberately allowing herself to be evicted, “intentionally ceasing paying rent and instead taking the children on a vacation trip to Europe.”
FIND OUT MORE: Justice Department Investigates Fox News, CNN, NBC, ABC and CBS Over Alleged Trump Coverage Boycott
He claimed her goal was to “support her false public narrative of financial destitution in an attempt to further harm my reputation……as a fraudulent way to strong-arm me into paying more support than I can afford.”
Gruffudd further said subpoenaed bank records showed Evans was not without resources, claiming she earned more than $130,000 in 2024 and was expected to make a similar amount this year. Evans has described that assertion as “false and misleading.”
In another filing, Gruffudd said he was “mortified” after receiving “dozens of stressed messages from our minor children in which they have parroted Alice’s false and manufactured claims of becoming homeless in the immediate future.”
Evans maintains that Gruffudd, who married Wallace in April, can afford to pay more than his current monthly contributions of $3,000 in child support and $1,500 in spousal support
Gruffudd also alleged in court documents that Evans influenced their daughter to send him messages warning that they could become homeless
Evans denied coaching or manipulating the children into sending emotional messages to their father.
“I absolutely did not ask the children to send messages to (Gruffudd) about our eviction and pending homelessness,” she said in court documents. “The children are well aware of our financial distress and the eviction.”
Evans also disputed Gruffudd’s claim that she had violated a three-year domestic abuse restraining order through “physically stalking, ongoing harassment and publicly posting denigrating things about me on social media.”
She described the order as an attempt by Gruffudd “to muzzle me and violate my First Amendment rights.”
“There is absolutely no evidence of stalking,” Evans added. “I have no idea where he and his wife live, nor do I have any interest in stalking them. This is plainly ridiculous.”
Gruffudd was granted the restraining order in August 2022 after telling the court that Evans had “engaged in a smear campaign of hateful text messages, emails and social media posts…aimed at intimidating me and my fiancée Bianca Wallace while alienating our two young children from me.”
Evans says she and daughters Ella, 16, and Elsie, 12, need higher spousal support after they were recently evicted from their Los Angeles home over the $6,500 monthly rent
Gruffudd says bank records show Evans earned more than $130,000 in 2024 and is likely to earn a similar amount this year, a claim she has called “false and misleading”
At a hearing last September, the restraining order against Evans was temporarily extended through March 6, 2026—the final possible day of the scheduled trial.
During that hearing, Gruffudd also made clear that he opposed any increase in payments to his former wife and wanted to stop paying spousal support altogether.
He said he planned to “request to terminate support based on Evans’s continued violations of the restraining order.”
Evans and Gruffudd met more than 20 years ago while working on the film 102 Dalmatians. Their relationship became romantic, and they married in Mexico in 2007.
Gruffudd filed for divorce in March 2021, after Evans announced on social media that her husband of 14 years was leaving her.
Their divorce was finalized in July 2023.
