Would this serve as "evidence" that the divorce petition has been "served on him"? Please advise

[katek3]

In order to save costs, I'm planning to do the DIY divorce through the UK government website.

One of my concerns was that what if my estranged husband can't be found/traced/contact details are out of date. Then, a friend raised an interesting point. She said that if my estranged husband gets in touch with me by email/whatsapp with more abuse and threats (he has a history of this), and mentions receiving the divorce petition in any of his subsequent emails/whatsapp... For legal purposes/for the satisfaction of the court, would any such contact from him serve as "evidence" that he has indeed received the paperwork?

He's unlikely to cooperate with the process as he has nothing but contempt for me and the UK laws/courts (he's from abroad and is back in his native country).

My understanding is that, as long as the court is satisfied that he's received the paperwork (regardless of his reaction to it), the divorce can go ahead. Is this correct?

Hi

My partner submitted copies of WhatsApp messages of his ex saying they had received the petition and the court accepted that however this was during covid times, but they did granted deemed service based on that. Good luck

Unfortunately this is where you might have to pay for professional legal advice. I'm trying to sort out my divorce but it got far too complicated as he (like your ex) is overseas in his home country and I have no address for him. You need to apply for what I think is called a dispensation of service which basically means the physical papers can't be issued. There have been cases of papers being served by other methods... email etc but you need to show you have done everything you can to find his current address.
I'm waiting to see if the fbk messages between us, in which I have asked him for his address and he hasn't answered are enough.