Military Affidavit: What It Is, When Courts Require It, How to Get One

A military affidavit is the sworn statement a plaintiff files to tell the court whether the person they are suing is in the armed forces. Federal law requires it before any default judgment. Landlords file it in evictions, lenders and debt buyers file it in collection and foreclosure suits, and divorcing spouses file it when the other side never answers. If you are the servicemember, it is the document that decides whether a court rules against you while you are deployed.

The rule: § 3931 in plain terms

50 U.S.C. § 3931(a) applies to “any civil action or proceeding, including any child custody proceeding, in which the defendant does not make an appearance.” Under § 3911(5), “court” includes state and federal administrative agencies, so the rule reaches more than courtrooms.

Before entering judgment for the plaintiff, the court “shall require the plaintiff to file with the court an affidavit” that does one of two things (§ 3931(b)(1), read at uscode.house.gov, August 2026):

• (A) states “whether or not the defendant is in military service” and shows “necessary facts to support the affidavit,” or
• (B) if the plaintiff “is unable to determine whether or not the defendant is in military service,” says so.

A bare checkbox is not the second prong. Prong (B) exists for the plaintiff who genuinely tried and could not find out, and courts expect to see what was tried.

What happens next depends on the answer:

• Defendant is serving. The court “may not enter a judgment until after the court appoints an attorney to represent the defendant” (§ 3931(b)(2)). If that attorney cannot find the servicemember, nothing the attorney does waives the servicemember’s defenses. The court must also grant a stay of at least 90 days, on counsel’s application or its own motion, if there may be a defense that needs the defendant present or if counsel cannot reach the defendant after due diligence (§ 3931(d)).
• Status unknown. The court “may require the plaintiff to file a bond in an amount approved by the court” before entering judgment (§ 3931(b)(3)). If the defendant later turns out to be serving, the bond covers the loss from a judgment that gets set aside.
• False affidavit. Anyone who “makes or uses” a military affidavit “knowing it to be false” is fined under title 18, imprisoned up to one year, or both (§ 3931(c)).

The format is looser than the name suggests. Section 3931(b)(4) says the requirement “may be satisfied by a statement, declaration, verification, or certificate, in writing, subscribed and certified or declared to be true under penalty of perjury.” That is why several states publish a “declaration” instead of a notarized affidavit, and why 28 U.S.C. § 1746 (an unsworn declaration “under penalty of perjury” has “like force and effect” as an affidavit under federal law) matters here.

Reopening a judgment. If a default judgment is entered against a servicemember during service or within 60 days after it ends, the court “shall, upon application by or on behalf of the servicemember, reopen the judgment” when service materially affected the ability to defend and there is a meritorious or legal defense to some part of the action (§ 3931(g)(1)). The application must be filed within 90 days after release from service (§ 3931(g)(2)). Our guide to reopening an SCRA default judgment walks through that motion.

Seven names, one document

Court clerks and title companies use different labels for the same filing: affidavit of military service, affidavit of non-military service, non-military affidavit, military status affidavit, servicemember affidavit, SCRA affidavit, and in North Carolina and Wisconsin a “declaration.” They all satisfy § 3931(b)(1). If a form asks whether the defendant “is or is not” in military service and offers an “unable to determine” option, it is this document, whatever the caption says.

Getting the facts: the DMDC check

Nearly every state form points to one source: the Defense Manpower Data Center SCRA website at scra.dmdc.osd.mil. The site itself states “The services provided on this site are FREE” (verified August 2026). You create an account, enter the defendant’s last name plus either a Social Security number or date of birth, choose the Active Duty Status Date, and get a PDF titled Status Report Pursuant to Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. The full walkthrough, including the account rule and the batch upload, is in our DMDC SCRA website guide.

Read the report for three things it can say about the date you queried: the person was on active duty, the person left active duty within the prior 367 days, or the person or their unit was notified of a future call-up. Attach the PDF to the affidavit. Most forms have a checkbox for it.

Two cautions from DMDC’s own user guide (version 5.29, May 2026). First, a “does not possess any information” result is not a finding of non-service. The database reports only Title 10 active duty since September 30, 1985 and omits active-duty periods shorter than 30 days, so a Guard member on state orders or a Reservist on a short tour can serve and still come back blank. Second, DMDC warns that if you have other evidence the person is serving and you skip further verification, “punitive provisions” of § 3931(c) may apply.

If you lack both SSN and date of birth, DMDC cannot match reliably. Maryland’s district court guide tells plaintiffs in that spot to build a factual basis instead: ask the defendant, ask a household member of suitable age, ask the spouse or a neighbor. “I have never seen him in uniform” is, in the court’s words, “not likely to be found sufficient.” Prong (B), unable to determine, is the honest fallback, with the steps you took written out.

State forms verified August 2026

Each row is a form we opened on the court’s own site on August 15, 2026. Names are printed as the court prints them.

New York, Massachusetts (the Trial Court’s Military Affidavit), and New Hampshire (NHJB-2200-DFPS, Affidavit as to Military Service) publish forms too, but their court sites blocked our verification requests on August 15, 2026, so we print no URL we could not open. Ohio has no statewide form we could find; check your county clerk.

Who files it, and where it goes wrong

Landlords in eviction. The affidavit is due before a default writ of possession. DC’s form goes further than the statute and asks whether the premises are occupied by a servicemember’s spouse or dependents, because § 3951 eviction protection covers them. Property managers who file in bulk are the most frequent DOJ defendants in this category; see the landlord compliance guide.

Lenders, servicers, and debt buyers. Collection suits, deficiency claims after repossession, and judicial foreclosures all end in default more often than trial. The affidavit has to be current for each defendant who is a natural person, and the DMDC date should sit close to the judgment date. The lender and servicer compliance guide covers the rest of the file review.

Divorce, custody, and probate. Section 3931(a) names child custody explicitly. Florida, New Jersey, and Connecticut publish family-court versions. In probate and guardianship, any respondent who is served and silent triggers the same requirement before an order enters against them.

Towing and storage. Georgia’s magistrate form grew out of abandoned-vehicle proceedings, and DOJ’s Goines Towing case (filed 2023, resolved 2024) alleged vehicles were disposed of under judgments taken without proper military affidavits.

What DOJ has done about bad affidavits

The Justice Department treats a false or missing military affidavit as a standalone SCRA violation. On May 13, 2026, it settled with Rental Marketing Solutions, LLC, a St. Petersburg, Florida property manager, over allegations that RMS “filed a false affidavit regarding military service” and obtained a default eviction judgment against an active-duty sailor: $60,000 to the servicemember plus ten years of credit monitoring, a $6,000 civil penalty, and required SCRA policies (DOJ case page, verified August 2026). One affidavit, one tenant, and a federal settlement.

The pattern is older than that case. PRG Real Estate paid up to $1.49 million in 2019 for 127 default judgments taken without the affidavit. New Jersey’s Higher Education Student Assistance Authority paid $50,000 in 2021 after filing affidavits saying two borrowers were not serving when they were. Chesapeake Coveside (2022) and Goines Towing (2024) followed. The full list is in the SCRA enforcement ledger. The civil penalty ceiling DOJ can seek under § 4041 is $79,380 for a first violation and $158,761 for each later one, adjusted annually for inflation (28 CFR 85.5, read August 2026).

If you are the servicemember

Seeing “military status affidavit filed” or “non-military affidavit” on your docket means the plaintiff has asked for judgment by default. If the affidavit says you are not in service and you are, it is wrong, and § 3931(c) applies to the person who signed it knowing that. Put your status on the record in writing today: your name, that you are in military service, a copy of your orders or your own DMDC certificate, and a request for the § 3931(d) stay. Our SCRA stay of proceedings guide has the letter, and installation legal assistance handles these for free. If a judgment already exists, the 90-day reopening clock in § 3931(g) starts at separation, so do not wait for a garnishment notice to act.

Filing a compliant military affidavit

1. Confirm the defendant is a natural person. Business entities do not get § 3931 protection, but every individual co-defendant needs their own affidavit.
2. Run the DMDC search under your own account with last name plus SSN or date of birth, first name if you have it, and an Active Duty Status Date at or near the day you file. Save the PDF.
3. Pick the right prong. Serving, not serving with facts, or unable to determine with the steps you took. Never check “not serving” on a “no information” result alone if you have any contrary indication.
4. Use the form your court publishes (table above). Sign it the way that court requires: notary, clerk, or unsworn declaration under penalty of perjury.
5. Attach the DMDC PDF and any other evidence. File it with the request for default, and re-run the search if judgment does not enter within 30 days.
6. If the answer is “serving,” stop. Tell the court, expect appointed counsel and a 90-day stay, and read the common SCRA violations guide before taking any other step in the case.

The law behind this: 50 U.S.C. § 3931

Protection of servicemembers against default judgments: read the statute.