The Alabama military affidavit

How Alabama handles it

Alabama does not publish a standalone military affidavit. It folds the military statement into the default paperwork itself, as numbered paragraph 7 of a sworn application. The Administrative Office of Courts lists exactly three forms under Civil Forms, Default Judgment: C-25, Application, Affidavit and Entry of Default (rev. 7/30/2007); C-25A, Application and Affidavit for Entry of Default Judgment (rev. 11/10/2015); and C-25B, Application, Affidavit, for Entry of Default Judgment (For Unlawful Detainer) (rev. 6/13/2017). All three carry the same paragraph 7.

The sequence matters because Alabama splits the entry of default from the judgment. C-25 is the Rule 55(a) request that the clerk enter the defendant’s default. C-25A is the Rule 55(b) request that the clerk or the judge enter judgment, and it asks you to check whether you want it entered by the court or by the clerk. If you go through both steps you swear to the defendant’s military status twice, on two different forms, on two different days. The footnote on both prints the same warning: a separate form shall be completed for each defendant in cases involving multiple defendants, so one affidavit does not carry a co-signer or a guarantor.

Paragraph 7 is a binary. It reads "That the defendant is / is not in military service" with two boxes and nothing else. There is no third box for a plaintiff who cannot tell, no blank for the supporting facts, no line for the date of the search, and no checkbox for attaching a Defense Manpower Data Center status report. That is a real gap against 50 U.S.C. § 3931(b)(1), which wants either the facts behind the answer or a statement that you were unable to determine it. Attach the DMDC certificate and, if you genuinely could not determine status, file a short supplemental affidavit saying what you tried instead of guessing at a checkbox.

C-25B is the eviction version and adds what an Alabama unlawful detainer judge needs before signing: that the complaint was served or posted and mailed on a date you fill in, that the plaintiff has not accepted any rents or other payments since the rental agreement terminated, that the termination notice with proof of service and any written rental agreement are attached, and the monthly rent plus rent accrued since filing. Its military line uses slightly different wording, "is not in the military service," but it is the same paragraph 7 doing the same work.

Rule 55 of the Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure, read on the Alabama Judicial System site on August 15, 2026, says nothing about military service at all. It covers clerk entry of default, judgment by the clerk on a sum certain, judgment by the court in all other cases, the three-day notice to a party who has appeared, and setting aside a default. The entire military requirement in Alabama rides on the form and on federal law, which is why the form is the document to work from rather than the rule.

What trips filers up here

• There is no "unable to determine" box. If you cannot establish status, do not check either box on paragraph 7. Say so in an attached affidavit with what you tried, and expect the court to raise the bond question that section 3931(b)(3) allows.
• Paragraph 6 sits directly above the military line and covers something unrelated: that the defendant is not an infant or an incompetent person and that there has been no violation of Ala. Code 1975, Chapter 19, Title 5. Filers check 6 and 7 together without reading either.
• One form per defendant. The asterisk footnote is easy to miss, and a single C-25A covering two defendants is the kind of defect that reopens a judgment later.
• C-25A also warns that a filing fee is required to seek a default judgment under Rule 55(b) pursuant to Ala. Code 1975, section 12-19-71(a)(10), and that an attorney fee must be set by the judge rather than the clerk. Asking the clerk for fees on a C-25A is a common bounce.

Signing it: notarization required

The block reads "Sworn To and Subscribed Before Me This Date" and is completed by an officer who signs and prints a title, which in practice is a clerk, a deputy clerk, or a notary. There is no unsworn declaration option printed anywhere on the form.

This form carries a notary block, so budget for a notary before your filing date. Federal law sets a floor, not a ceiling: 50 U.S.C. § 3931(b)(4) permits an unsworn declaration under penalty of perjury, but a state is free to require more on its own form, and this one does.

Getting the military-status answer right

The affidavit is only as good as the search behind it. The Defense Manpower Data Center runs the free lookup that courts and creditors rely on, and since 2026 it requires a free account even for a single record. Our guide to the DMDC SCRA website covers the search itself, what a "no information found" result does and does not prove, and the batch route for high-volume filers. The federal rules behind this form, including what happens when you genuinely cannot determine status, sit on the hub page.

If one was filed against you

A false affidavit is not a technicality. In May 2026 the Justice Department settled with a Florida property manager that swore a Navy sailor was not on active duty, took a default eviction judgment, and left him with an eviction on his record that a dozen landlords then refused to rent around: $60,000 to one servicemember plus a civil penalty . If a default judgment was entered against you while you were serving, it can be reopened; the default-judgment shield walks the deadlines.

Serving in Alabama and looking for what the state adds to your own protections rather than court procedure? That is a different page: Alabama SCRA benefits.