The Connecticut military affidavit

How Connecticut handles it

Connecticut sets the trigger by appearance, not by request for judgment. Practice Book § 17-21 says an affidavit "must be filed in every case in which there is a nonappearing defendant," either stating that the defendant is in military service, or that the plaintiff cannot determine the answer, or setting forth facts showing the defendant is not in service. JD-FM-178, Affidavit Concerning Military Service (Rev. 4-26), is the standalone form, and its own instructions restate the rule: the affidavit is required in every case where the defendant has not filed an Appearance form with the clerk’s office by the time of the court hearing.

The form is short and its factual section is a checklist. After the judicial district, town, return date, and docket number, you select all that apply among three statements: the defendant is in the U.S. Military, the defendant is not, or you do not know. If you pick "is not," the form gives you four ways to say why: the defendant is working at a named place, the defendant currently lives at a named address, the defendant is a stated number of years old, or other reasons. Anyone who knows the defendant’s military status may complete it, so a landlord or a family member can sign.

In a collection case you usually never see JD-FM-178, because the military affidavit is printed on the motion. JD-CV-49, Motion for Default for Failure to Appear and Judgment, Request for Order of Weekly Payments, and Notice (Rev. 1-26), cites C.G.S. § 36a-813(b) and Practice Book §§ 17-21 and 17-23, and carries a block headed Military Service Affidavit with the unable-to-determine option first. Practice Book § 17-25 is the rule behind it: the motion for default and judgment must have an affidavit of debt and a military affidavit attached, along with a bill of costs and a proposed judgment.

What the judge does with the answer is spelled out in the rest of § 17-21. If the defendant is in service the court shall appoint an attorney before judgment, and if status is undetermined it may. That appointed attorney cannot waive any right of the person or bind them. Unless it appears the defendant is not in service, the court may require a bond to indemnify the defendant against loss from a judgment later set aside. If the defendant is serving, the court shall grant a stay of at least ninety days when there may be a defense that needs the defendant present or counsel cannot reach the defendant. Subsection (g) requires that all of those findings be recited in the judgment.

Small claims are covered by the same affidavit. Practice Book § 24-24(b)(2) lists, among the papers needed before a small claims judgment can enter without the plaintiff appearing, "a military affidavit as required by Section 17-21." Section 17-23 pushes in the other direction for the expedited default track: the streamlined procedure in §§ 17-24 through 17-27 does not apply to any action where a defendant against whom judgment is sought is in military or naval service when judgment is rendered.

What trips filers up here

• The stay application under § 17-21(e) takes two letters, not one. The court needs a communication from the servicemember stating how current duty materially affects the ability to appear and when they can appear, plus a communication from the commanding officer stating that duty prevents appearance and that leave is not authorized.
• JD-FM-178 carries an FM prefix, which reads as family matters, but it is the Judicial Branch form for any Superior Court case with a nonappearing defendant. Juvenile matters use a separate sheet, JD-JM-172.
• The three statements on the form are marked "select all that apply," which is unusual for a document whose whole point is a single status. In a multi-defendant case that is how one form covers people with different answers.
• Filing the affidavit does not start the clock on judgment. Under § 17-27 the clerk brings a default motion and its affidavits to a judge no sooner than seven days after receipt, and § 17-28 stays execution until twenty days after certification of service of the judgment notice.

Signing it: notarization required

The form says who may take the oath: "Signed and sworn to before me (Assistant Clerk/Notary Public/Commissioner of Superior Court)." Every Connecticut lawyer is a commissioner of the Superior Court, so in practice the attorney handling the file can swear the affiant without a notary. The instructions add that the person who takes the oath also signs and dates the affidavit.

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.

Connecticut law on top of the federal rule

C.G.S. § 27-34a: A Connecticut National Guard member ordered into active state service by the governor gets all the protections of USERRA and of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, other than the life insurance provisions at 50 USC App. §§ 536 and 541 to 549. Subsection (b) adds a right to cancel telecommunications, internet, television, satellite radio, and gym contracts on orders of ninety days or more.

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