The Missouri military affidavit

How Missouri handles it

Missouri's statewide rule is silent. Rule 74.05, Entry of Default Judgment, adopted May 22, 1987 and revised effective January 1, 2016, was read in full in the Missouri Supreme Court Rules on August 15, 2026. Its four subdivisions cover entry of a default judgment on proof of damages, entry of an interlocutory order of default, what a default judgment may include, and when one may be set aside. Military service is not mentioned anywhere in it. Rule 74.05(a) also says plainly that an interlocutory order of default "is not a condition precedent to the entry of a default judgment," so a Missouri case can travel from silence to a signed money judgment in a single filing.

What fills the gap is local. The Rules of Court of the 21st Judicial Circuit, St. Louis County, effective July 13, 2022, put the obligation on counsel by name in Local Rule 42, Default: "It shall be the duty of counsel to ascertain that process has been properly and timely served, to furnish a memorandum of the amount claimed before requesting judgments on undefended actions on bonds, bills, notes, and accounts, and to provide appropriate documentation in compliance with the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act." The rule does not say what that documentation looks like, and the circuit does not publish a standalone military affidavit.

Instead the statement rides inside the proposed judgment. Form CCAC50-WS, Judgment in Default (Civil), Rev. 07/22, is a one-page order. The left column recites the default findings, including the line "Defendant(s) although called three times appear(s) not," then sets out the money columns: principal, interest, attorney's fees, total judgment plus court costs, and court costs to date. It carries a checkbox reading "Amount of Judgment is less than amount reflected on Affidavit due to payments/credits applied since execution of the Affidavit." The right column, next to the signature lines, is where the military sentence sits.

That placement decides what a Missouri filer has to add. The form gives you no "unable to determine" option, no room for supporting facts, no reference to the Defense Manpower Data Center, and no attachment line for a status report. Because the sentence is unsworn and attached to a proposed order rather than to an affidavit, the safe practice in the 21st Circuit is to file a separate signed statement or declaration with the status report attached and to reference it in the papers you submit with the proposed judgment.

Elsewhere in Missouri, expect to ask. The Local Court Rules of the 16th Judicial Circuit, Jackson County, were searched in full on August 15, 2026 and contain no military service rule at all. Missouri circuits publish their own forms and numbering, so the document a clerk in Kansas City wants is not the document a clerk in Clayton wants. Call the division clerk before you file and ask what they accept as proof of compliance.

What trips filers up here

• The military statement is part of the judgment the judge signs, not a separate affidavit, and it is unsworn. There is no penalty-of-perjury declaration and no notary anywhere on CCAC50-WS.
• The sentence bundles two different claims: that the defendant is "employed in civilian life" and that the defendant is "not now engaged in the military service of the United States." A National Guard member with a civilian job makes the first half true and can still make the second half false.
• CCAC50-WS offers only one answer. There is no box for a defendant who is serving and no box for a plaintiff who cannot tell, so a filer with an ambiguous search result has nothing on the form to check.
• Rule 74.05 lets a default judgment be set aside on a motion "stating facts constituting a meritorious defense and for good cause shown," filed within a reasonable time not to exceed one year. The rule adds that such a motion is an independent action, not an after-trial motion, even when it is filed within 30 days of judgment.

Signing it: check with the clerk

The military statement carries no oath, no penalty-of-perjury language, and no notary. It is prefaced by an asterisk and reads "That, to the best of the undersigned's knowledge and belief, the defendant(s) (is) (are) employed in civilian life and that the defendant(s) (is) (are) not now engaged in the military service of the United States." The only signature under it is the attorney or self-represented party, with a bar number, address, phone, fax, and email. The judge signs the left column under "SO ORDERED."

The form does not state on its face whether it must be notarized. Ask the clerk for the court you are filing in before you sign, because a rejected affidavit delays the default hearing and some clerks apply a local practice the statewide form does not print.

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