process serving ex hiding?

Hi I have two questions about process serving please.
I filed for divorce nearly a month ago at the divorce centre, and he had had the Petition over 3 weeks now.
Friday I paid for and instructed private process servers to serve the petition on him.
His mother answered the door saying he was visiting friends in Southampton, and he was not working at the moment, and he could be back at anytime, or whenever, she did not know she said.
They are going to try again this evening, and then call him to arrange to meet, if he does not respond, they will try a evening in the week.
My questions are on the way forward, if he does happen to sign, do I take the evidence the process servers give me and apply for the Nisi with that, its been over 21 days, or do I have to apply to dispense with service, even if he signs?, looks like I will also have to send letters to his family friends bank work etc?.
If he does not sign, can I then apply to dispense with service after doing all of the above?.
Thank you in advance for any help .

If he signs and returns the D10, then you don't need to make any additional application to court - just the Decree Nisi when the court send you a copy of the D10.


What grounds have you cited in the petition? If it's adultery or 2 years separation with consent, then you may have problems moving the Petition forward. If it's unreasonable behaviour or 5 years separation, then it should be fine.
If service is successful and he fails to return a completed D10, you will need to apply for Deemed Service before applying for Nisi (you need a D11 form and the report from the process server, and will need to wait until your application for Deemed service has been accepted).

If service is not successful, then you will need to apply to Dispense with Service using D11 and the process server's report.