Gary Dourdan and Domestic Violence – Family Law News Blog

Back in the 80’s, Gary Dourdan played Shazza Zulu on A Different World.
The papers often reported him assaulting his girlfriends and fighting
with paparazzi.

Now, Gary is known for his role as Warwick on CSI. The media reports that
he was recently assaulted by his girlfriend, Maria Asis del Alamo. It
is reported that Maria was arrested for misdemeanour domestic battery
after police found Gary “scratched up”. Maria was released on
bail and the criminal trial is scheduled for April 6, 2010.

What would happen to this couple if Gary and Maria lived in Ontario?

This depends on several factors. This first of which is whether Ontario
family law applies. Ontario family law does not apply to every couple.
For the most part, it only applies if (i) the parties are married, (ii)
the parties have children, or (iii) the parties cohabited (which means
lived together in a conjugal relationship) for three years or more. However,
there is one provision that applies to couples who do not meet these criteria.
Pursuant to the
Ontario Family Law Act, the courts can make a Restraining Order against someone if they have
lived with the other party for any period of time. This Restraining Order
can ban someone from contacting the other party, coming within a certain
distance of certain places, and anything else that the court considers
appropriate.

Reports of this domestic violence incident state that Maria was arrested
outside a home in Venice, California, but do not state whether Maria and
Gary lived together in this home, or elsewhere. This means that Ontario
family law may not apply to this couple at all, although criminal law
clearly would.

As explained above, if Maria and Gary lived together for any period of
time, an Ontario family court judge could make an Order restraining Maria
from communicating with Gary and even restraining her from going within
a certain distance of his home, his place of work, or any other place
the court feels is appropriate.

Had Maria and Gary been married, this incident of domestic violence might
have affected:

1. their right to occupy the Matrimonial Home
   • The term ‘Matrimonial Home’ is no misnomer. You must be married
     in order for the home you live in to be considered a Matrimonial Home.
   • Maria and Gary are not married so they have no Matrimonial Home, even if
     they did live together.
2. their grounds for Divorce
   • Cruelty is a ground for Divorce in Canada. In order for cruelty to be used
     as the grounds for divorce, the cruelty must be grave, weighty, and so
     intolerable that the parties are no longer able to cohabit.
   • If this incident of domestic violence was grave, weighty, and made it intolerable
     for Maria and Gary to live together, it could be their ground for Divorce
     if they were married. They are not married, so they obviously cannot get divorced.
3. AND their entitlement to an Equalization Payment
   • An Equalization Payments is the payment that one spouse can be required
     to make to the other spouse in order to
     equalize their assets acquired during the marriage
   • There is no Equalization Payment if the parties are not married, so this
     does not apply to Gary and Maria.

Had Maria and Gary had children, this incident of domestic violence would
likely have affected who had custody of and access with the children.
But, since Gary and Maria have no children, custody and access are clearly
not relevant.