The Delaware military affidavit

How Delaware handles it

Delaware has no document called a military affidavit. In the Justice of the Peace Court the statement rides inside the default paperwork the court sends you. Once the answer window closes, or the defendant misses trial, the court mails out JP Civil Form No. 13, Statement of Plaintiff in Support of Default Judgment (rev. 5/27/2025). You fill in the amount claimed, prejudgment interest, costs, and attorney fees, then sign the attestation that ends: "the Defendant is not in the military service as defined by the Servicemembers' Civil Relief Act, nor is the Defendant under the age of eighteen or incompetent." There is no checkbox, no facts field, and no place to attach a status report.

That single sentence is why the Delaware route breaks differently from other states. The instructions on page two of Form 13 tell you what to do when you cannot sign it: "If the Defendant is in the military as defined by the Service members' Civil Relief Act or if the Plaintiff cannot determine the Defendant's military status, the Plaintiff will need to request a hearing." The same page points you to the DMDC site at scra.dmdc.osd.mil, or to a written request to the Defense Manpower Data Center in Arlington, Virginia. Delaware also sets a shot clock: if you never file Form 13, the court dismisses the case on its own motion one year after the last docket entry.

Consumer debt collection above the Justice of the Peace level runs on a different set of papers. Administrative Directive 2012-2, signed by the Chief Judge of the Court of Common Pleas on August 22, 2012 and applying to consumer debt collection actions filed on or after September 2, 2012, appends three forms. Form 1 is the Affidavit of Ownership and Amount Due, filed with the complaint. Forms 2A and 2B are the plaintiff's and the attorney's affidavits in support of default judgment. The military statement appears as item 7 of Form 2A and item 4 of Form 2B, and both copies carry the bracketed note "May be contained in either Form A or Form B." All three are notarized. Form 2B also swears that the defendant was served more than 20 days before the date of the affidavit and has filed nothing.

Delaware wrote the federal default rule into its own code, and made the penalty harsher. 6 Del. C. ch. 25D is the Delaware Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. Section 2503D repeats the affidavit requirement, the appointment of counsel, and the bond, and its definition of military service reaches a Delaware National Guard member called to state duty status under 20 Del. C. § 171 for more than 30 consecutive days. Then Section 2503D(c) departs from federal law: a person who makes or uses one of these affidavits knowing it to be false "is guilty of perjury, under § 1222 of Title 11, a class F felony." Federal law makes the same act a misdemeanor capped at one year. Section 2503D(h) also protects a bona fide purchaser for value if the judgment later gets vacated.

What trips filers up here

• You do not go find the form. The Justice of the Peace Court mails Form 13 to you after the answer period runs, which is why searching the forms index for "military affidavit" turns up nothing.
• Three sworn facts share one sentence. Signing Form 13 swears to the defendant's military status, age, and competency together, so a filer who is unsure about any one of them cannot sign any of them.
• In Court of Common Pleas consumer debt cases the military line is optional in each individual form because it "may be contained in either Form A or Form B." Filers who split the work between the client and the law firm sometimes drop it from both.
• A knowingly false affidavit is a class F felony in Delaware under 11 Del. C. § 1222, not the one-year federal misdemeanor most compliance checklists cite.

Signing it: notarization required

Form 13 carries one attestation line that does three jobs at once: it swears the amounts are correct, that the defendant is not under eighteen or incompetent, and that the defendant is not in military service. It is signed under penalty of perjury and then sworn to and subscribed before a Notary Public or Court Official, and the form's own instruction page says in capitals that it must be notarized.

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.

Delaware law on top of the federal rule

6 Del. C. § 2503D: The Delaware Servicemembers Civil Relief Act restates the default judgment affidavit requirement as state law, extends military service to Delaware National Guard members on state duty over 30 consecutive days, and makes a knowingly false affidavit perjury under 11 Del. C. § 1222, a class F felony.

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