The Illinois military affidavit

How Illinois handles it

Illinois has no statewide military affidavit. The Supreme Court of Illinois approved statewide standardized forms index, read on August 15, 2026, runs from Answer/Response through Summons and includes suites for Eviction, Mortgage Foreclosure, Small Claims Complaint, Post Judgment Collection, Motions and Notice, and the Financial Affidavit. None of them is a military affidavit. The default statute is no help either: 735 ILCS 5/2-1301(d) says only that "Judgment by default may be entered for want of an appearance, or for failure to plead, but the court may in either case, require proof of the allegations of the pleadings upon which relief is sought." The form comes from your circuit clerk.

Cook County, which handles more civil defaults than the rest of the state combined, publishes CCG 0004, Affidavit as to Military Service, revised 12/01/24. It is a single page in the clerk's civil general series and it is built around one sentence you finish by hand. After the caption and a blank for the affiant, the form reads "With respect to defendant ______," then gives one long blank line, and prints three phrases underneath it to choose from: "(the defendant is)", "(the defendant is not)", and "(I am unable to determine whether the defendant is)", followed by "in the military service of the United States." The next block is "This affidavit is based on these facts:" with open space.

Below the certification the form asks for the attorney number, name, "Atty. for," address, city, state, ZIP, and telephone, and it prints the name of the sitting Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County at the foot of the page. There is no line for a Defense Manpower Data Center certificate, no checkbox to confirm one is attached, and no field for the date the search was run, so the facts block is where all of that has to go.

The certification route matters in Illinois more than in most states because of what a false one costs. 735 ILCS 5/1-109 provides that any person who makes a false statement, material to the issue or point in question, which he does not believe to be true, in a document certified under that section "shall be guilty of a Class 3 felony." That is a state felony sitting on top of the federal crime for a knowingly false military affidavit, and it attaches to the same signature.

Outside Cook County, ask the circuit clerk for the county where the case is filed which local form they require and how it must be captioned. The CCG numbering is Cook's own civil general series and does not travel. Illinois also has its own Service Member Civil Relief Act at 330 ILCS 63, but reading its sections on August 15, 2026 shows it covers cellular phone contracts, bulk long distance service, gas and electric stoppage, life insurance lapse, residential eviction, an interest rate limit, and motor vehicle lease termination. It adds nothing to the default judgment affidavit itself.

What trips filers up here

• CCG 0004 uses a fill-in line instead of checkboxes. You write out one of the three printed phrases on a single blank, so a transcription slip is the whole affidavit. Copy the phrase exactly as printed, including "is not" rather than "isn't."
• A false certification under 735 ILCS 5/1-109 is a Class 3 felony in Illinois. Most states leave a bad military affidavit to the federal statute; Illinois adds its own felony to the same signature line.
• Nothing on the form asks for the Defense Manpower Data Center report or the Active Duty Status Date, and the affidavit does not say the certificate is attached. Write both into the "based on these facts" block and attach the PDF.
• The Illinois Service Member Civil Relief Act defines "military service" broadly, reaching any full-time training or duty ordered by the President, a governor of any state, or other appropriate military authority, and defines a service member as an Illinois resident in any component of the armed forces or the National Guard of any state. That definition is wider than what a federal database search will return.

Signing it: declaration, no notary

The signature is an /s/ line over this printed certification: "Under penalties as provided by law pursuant to 735 ILCS 5/1-109 the above signed certifies that the statement set forth herein are true and correct." No notary appears anywhere on the page. Section 1-109 says a document certified that way "may be used in the same manner and with the same force and effect as though subscribed and sworn to under oath, and there is no further requirement that the pleading, affidavit, or other document be sworn before an authorized person."

No notary is needed. The signature block is an unsworn declaration under penalty of perjury, which is what 50 U.S.C. § 3931(b)(4) expressly allows. Signing it knowing the military statement is false is still a federal crime, and a state perjury exposure on top.

Illinois law on top of the federal rule

330 ILCS 63: The Illinois Service Member Civil Relief Act. Section 10 defines "military service" to include any full-time training or duty ordered by the President, a governor, or other appropriate military authority, and defines "service member" as an Illinois resident in any component of the U.S. Armed Forces or the National Guard of any state. Sections 15 through 45 route particular protections to other Illinois acts: cellular phone contract termination, bulk long distance service, gas and electric stoppage, life insurance lapse, residential eviction under 735 ILCS 5/9-107.10, an interest rate limit under Section 4.05 of the Interest Act, and motor vehicle lease termination. None of its sections addresses default judgments.

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