The Michigan military affidavit

How Michigan handles it

Michigan does not publish a standalone military affidavit. The rule that creates the duty, MCR 2.603(C), is one sentence long: "Nonmilitary affidavits required by law must be filed before judgment is entered in actions in which the defendant has failed to appear." The document that carries the statement is SCAO Form MC 07, Default Request and Entry (Rev. 6/22), the same one-page request you file to get the clerk to enter a default in district or circuit court.

The military statement is item 3, and it offers three positions rather than the usual two. You may state that it is unknown whether the defaulted party is in military service, that the defaulted party is not in military service, or that the party "is in the military but there has been notice of pendency of the action and adequate time and opportunity to appear and defend has been provided," with a waiver of SCRA rights and protections attached as appropriate. Whichever you pick, the form then demands "Facts upon which this conclusion is based are: (specify)" and gives you a blank block. Item 2 requires that the defaulted party is not an infant or incompetent person, and item 4 states the request is made on your personal knowledge.

How you sign it is set by MCR 2.603(A)(1)(b), which requires the request to be "verified in the manner prescribed by MCR 1.109(D)(3)." That rule, read at the Michigan Court Rules text updated May 1, 2026, allows verification "by oath or affirmation of the party or of someone having knowledge of the facts stated" or, "except as to an affidavit," by the printed penalty-of-perjury declaration. It also warns that a person who knowingly makes a false declaration under the subrule may be found in contempt of court, on top of anything else that applies.

For a sum-certain money claim, SCAO publishes MC 07a, Default Request, Entry, and Judgment (Sum Certain) (Rev. 7/22), which folds the request, the clerk entry, and the money judgment into one filing and repeats the identical three-option military paragraph as item 5. Family and paternity cases have their own hooks: MCR 3.210(B)(5)(b) says proofs for a default judgment of divorce, separate maintenance, or annulment may not be taken until the proposed judgment is with the court and "Nonmilitary affidavits required by law must be filed before a default judgment is entered," and MCR 3.230(G), Failure to Respond, repeats it for actions under the Summary Support and Paternity Act: "Nonmilitary affidavits required by law must be filed before a judgment is entered in cases in which the defendant has failed to respond or appear."

Page 2 of MC 07 is the clerk's Default Entry plus a Certificate of Mailing. A use note there states that a district court clerk can enter a default without any party requesting it, and that the party who sought the default is responsible for serving all parties under MCR 2.603(A)(2). MC 07 lists its own authority at the foot of the page: MCL 32.517, MCL 600.2441, MCL 600.5759, 50 USC 3931, and MCR 2.603.

What trips filers up here

• The third checkbox is unusual. Michigan lets you take a default against someone who is in military service if that person had notice, had adequate time and opportunity to appear, and signed a written SCRA waiver you attach. Most state forms have no such option, and a waiver that is not attached leaves the box unsupported.
• Nothing on MC 07 asks for the Defense Manpower Data Center status report or the date you ran the search. The only place either can go is the "Facts upon which this conclusion is based" block, so attach the certificate and name its Active Duty Status Date there.
• Because MCR 2.603(A)(1)(a) lets the clerk enter a default on facts already "known to the clerk of the court," a default can appear on the docket before anyone files a military statement. MCR 2.603(C) bites at judgment, not at the default entry, so a servicemember watching a Michigan docket should not assume the affidavit has been filed just because a default has.
• MCL 32.517, the Michigan Military Act provision printed on the form, does something the SCRA does not: for Michigan personnel on active service over 7 days when ordered by the governor, suits pending against them "stand adjourned until after the termination of the service," and separate property is exempt from levy, seizure, or attachment for six months after service ends.

Signing it: notary or declaration

MC 07 prints both routes on the same page. Above the signature line it carries the declaration "I declare under the penalties of perjury that this request has been examined by me and that its contents are true to the best of my information, knowledge, and belief," and below it a "Subscribed and sworn to before me on" block for a deputy clerk or notary public, including a checkbox for a notarial act performed using an electronic or remote notarization platform. MCR 1.109(D)(3) is what allows the choice.

The form accepts either a notarized oath or an unsworn declaration under penalty of perjury. Pick the declaration unless your court or local rule tells you otherwise; it is faster and federal law accepts it.

Michigan law on top of the federal rule

MCL 32.517: The Michigan Military Act, section 117, gives officers and enlisted personnel on active service over 7 days at the governor's order privilege from arrest, exemption of separate property from levy or seizure for debts contracted before or during service and for 6 months after, automatic adjournment of pending suits, and 90 days of protection from contract forfeiture or seizure of chattels. It is one of the five authorities printed at the bottom of Form MC 07.

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