Alice Evans and her two daughters were seen out together after it was revealed she has one last shot to avoid a costly custody trial with her ex-husband Ioan Gruffudd.
The actress, 57, stepped out with Ella, 16, and Elsie, 13, while shopping at Trader Joe in Los Angeles on Monday afternoon amid the ongoing legal battle.
Earlier this month it was reported the former couple have one last shot to resolve their dispute over money and child custody – or risk a nine-day trial.
As their bitter two-year battle nears completion, Evans and her family were spotted stocking up on supplies days after celebrating Christmas.
Evans was sporting a black leather jacket with a white faux fur collar, over a leopard print top and black trousers with loafers.
Her younger daughter Elsie was wearing a baggy hoodie and sweatpants, while Ella was wearing a New York branded top with sweatpants, trainers and a red bag.
Alice Evans and her two daughters were seen out together after it was revealed she has one last shot to avoid a costly custody trial with her ex-husband Ioan Gruffudd
Evans was sporting a black leather jacket with a white faux fur collar, over a leopard print top and black trousers with loafer
Just before Christmas on December 19, Gruffud appeared at the Santa Monica Courthouse 19 looking composed, dressed in a tailored navy suit. Alice was a no-show at the brief hearing.
The deadline for a resolution had originally been set for December 19, after Judge Michael Convey ordered the former couple, along with Gruffudd’s attorney Joseph Langlois and Evans’ lawyer Janina Verano, to attend a closed-door ‘mandatory settlement conference’ on December 4.
But after more than two hours of negotiations, the sides failed to reach an agreement on several contested issues – including Gruffudd’s bid to end spousal support payments and extend a restraining order to stop Evans from allegedly stalking him and his wife, Bianca Wallace, 33, and attacking them online.
On the flipside, Evans is asking the court to order Gruffudd to cough up more than the $1,500 he’s paying in monthly spousal support.
Gruffudd and Wallace recently welcomed their daughter, Mila, while the actor shares daughters Ella, 16, and Elsie, 12, with Evans.
Despite the impasse earlier this month, the lawyers persuaded the judge to allow another attempt at a resolution, scheduling a second ‘mandatory settlement conference’ for January 6.
If no agreement is reached, the case is set to go to trial in February 2026, when the restraining order, spousal support and other disputes will be fully litigated.
Still, Langlois struck an optimistic tone afterward, telling DailyMail.com exclusively: ‘We are still working on it, and we expect to settle, maybe in the next week or two.’
Just before Christmas on December 19, Gruffud appeared at the Santa Monica Courthouse 19 looking composed, dressed in a tailored navy suit. Alice was a no-show at the brief hearing
Gruffudd and Evans, who share daughters Ella, 16, and Elsie, 13, finalized their divorce in 2023 and have since been locked in a bitter dispute over restraining orders, custody and money
Gruffudd is aiming to end spousal support and extend a restraining order to stop Evans from ‘stalking’ him and trashing him and his new wife, Bianca Wallace, 33, online; the couple welcomed their daughter Mila on November 2
Over the past few months, Evans has filed court documents – uncovered by the Daily Mail – in which she claimed she was so impoverished that she had to borrow money from friends and set up a GoFundMe account that raised $18,000 in donations.
Evans also claims she and their daughters, Ella, 16, and Elsie, 12, desperately need higher spousal support after being evicted from their LA home for failing to cover the $6,500 monthly rent.
She contended that she had to ‘burn through’ her savings to pay living expenses and legal fees.
And she insisted Gruffudd – who married Wallace in April – can afford to pay more than the $3,000 per month child support and $1,500 spousal support he now pays.
But Gruffudd has fought his ex’s cash demands and in his own court filing, blasted her claims, saying that she ‘purposely got herself evicted…. intentionally ceasing paying rent and instead taking the children on a vacation trip to Europe’.
Her motive, he said, 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 also maintained that subpoenaed bank records show that, far from being broke, Evans made more than $130,000 in 2024 and is expected to earn a similar amount this year, a claim that Evans called ‘false and misleading’.
In one court filing, Gruffudd told how he was ‘mortified’ to have received ‘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 argued Gruffudd, who tied the knot with Wallace in April, can easily pay more than the $3,000 a month in child support and $1,500 in spousal support he’s currently handing over
The actor also alleged in a court filing that Evans manipulated their daughter into sending him texts expressing fear that they might be homeless in the future
But Evans denied manipulating the children into sending plaintive 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 filings. ‘The children are well aware of our financial distress and the eviction.’
Evans also attacked Gruffudd’s accusation that his ex is still violating a three-year domestic abuse restraining order against her ‘by physically stalking, ongoing harassment and publicly posting denigrating things about me on social media’.
She called the restraining order Gruffudd’s effort ‘to muzzle me and violate my First Amendment rights’.
And, she added: ‘There is absolutely no evidence of stalking… 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 how 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 argues that she and their daughters, Ella, 16, and Elsie, 12, need an increase in spousal support, as they were recently evicted from their LA home after being unable to afford the $6,500 monthly rent
Gruffudd maintained that bank records show Evans isn’t broke, earning more than $130,000 in 2024 and likely to make the same this year, a claim she denounced as ‘false and misleading’
At a hearing last September, the restraining order against Evans was temporarily extended to March 6, 2026, the last possible day of the scheduled trial.
And at that hearing, he revealed that he’s not only opposed to increasing the amount he pays former spouse, but he also wants to stop paying her altogether.
Gruffudd said he intends to ‘request to terminate support based on Evans’s continued violations of the restraining order’.
Evans and Gruffudd met on the set of the movie 102 Dalmatians more than 20 years ago. They fell in love in real life and married in Mexico in 2007.
Gruffudd filed for divorce in March 2021, after Alice announced on social media that her husband of 14 years was leaving her.
They were divorced in July 2023.
