The Maryland military affidavit

How Maryland handles it

Maryland folds the affidavit into the complaint. On the front page of DC-CV-001 (rev. 10/01/2023), in the block headed MILITARY SERVICE AFFIDAVIT, you pick one of three lines: named defendants are in the military service, no defendant is in the military service, or you are unable to determine whether any defendant is in military service. A checkbox to the right reads "Verified through DOD at: http://scra.dmdc.osd.mil/". Under the second line the form prints its own instruction in small type: "Specific facts must be given for the court to conclude that each defendant who is a natural person is not in the military." The word each is doing real work, because one blanket sentence does not cover four co-defendants.

Debt buyers file on a different sheet. DC-CV-106, Complaint - Assigned Consumer Debt (rev. 01/2021), brought under Md. Rule 3-306(d), carries an identical MILITARY SERVICE AFFIDAVIT block with the same three choices and the same declaration language. Both forms print the same warning on the reverse: "REQUESTING A JUDGMENT BY AFFIDAVIT OR DEFAULT: Federal Law requires the filing of a military service affidavit," and both send you to mdcourts.gov/reference/scra.

The District Court publishes a Plaintiff's Guide to SCRA Compliance that answers the question the form does not. If you have the defendant's last name and Social Security number, run the DMDC search. If you have no Social Security number, the guide tells you to request a manual search by name and date of birth by mail, with a self-addressed stamped envelope, from the Defense Manpower Data Center in Arlington, Virginia. If you have neither, you must build a factual basis instead, and the guide names four things a Maryland judge may weigh: whether the defendant was recently asked directly, whether a resident of the same household of suitable age and discretion was asked (citing Md. Rules 2-121 and 3-121 on service of process), whether the spouse was asked, and whether a neighbor was asked.

The guide is blunt about what fails. Writing "I have never seen Ms. defendant in a military uniform" or "Mr. tenant has never mentioned that he is a service member" is, in the court's words, "not likely to be found sufficient evidence of military status." If the court still cannot tell, it may require a bond so a servicemember can be indemnified if the judgment is later vacated. If the defendant is serving, the court appoints counsel, appointed counsel contacts the servicemember, and the court stays the case at least ninety days either when a defense cannot be presented without the servicemember or when counsel cannot locate them.

One line in the guide is out of date and worth ignoring. It says filing a false military affidavit is "a misdemeanor punishable by up to one (1) year incarceration and a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000.00)." The current federal text at 50 U.S.C. § 3931(c) sets the fine by reference to title 18, not by a fixed dollar cap. The guide also still cites the pre-2016 numbering, 50 U.S.C. App. § 3901 et seq. Use the guide for its Maryland-specific investigation checklist and read the statute itself for exposure.

What trips filers up here

• There is no standalone Maryland military affidavit to download. Filers who search for one and find nothing sometimes attach an out-of-state form, which the clerk has no place to docket.
• You complete the block when you file the complaint, but the court needs the military facts to hold at the moment judgment enters. A case that sits for months needs a fresh search before you ask for judgment by affidavit or default.
• The form demands specific facts per natural person. A single line covering "the defendants" collectively is the most common reason a Maryland affidavit block gets bounced back.
• Assigned consumer debt goes on DC-CV-106, not DC-CV-001. The military block is the same, but filing the wrong complaint form restarts the case.

Signing it: declaration, no notary

The block ends "I hereby declare or affirm under the penalties of perjury that the facts and matters set forth in this Affidavit are true and correct to the best of my knowledge, information, and belief," followed by a date and a signature of affiant line. There is no notary jurat anywhere on the military block.

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.

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