The North Carolina military affidavit

How North Carolina handles it

One AOC form serves the whole court system. AOC-G-250 (rev. 4/24) is captioned Servicemembers Civil Relief Act Declaration and cites its authority in the corner of the caption box: G.S. Ch. 127B, Art. 4 and 50 U.S.C. 3901 to 4043. Item 1 is the three-way election on personal knowledge. Item 4 is the facts box, and its instruction is direct: "State how you know the defendant is or is not in the military. Be specific." The declaration is signed by whoever has the knowledge, called the Declarant rather than the affiant.

Item 2 is the question that makes this form different from every other state's. It asks whether you have or have not received a copy of a military order from the defendant relating to State active duty as a member of the North Carolina National Guard, or service similar to State active duty in another state's Guard, citing G.S. 127B-27 and G.S. 127B-28(b). Item 3 then asks separately whether you used the DMDC site and whether the results are attached, and the parenthetical under it warns that "Members of the North Carolina National Guard under an order of the Governor of this State and members of the National Guard of another state under an order of the governor of that state will not appear in the SCRA Website database." Two questions, two different sources of truth.

North Carolina's definition of military service is broader than the federal one, which is why item 2 exists. G.S. 127B-27(3) includes state active duty in the North Carolina National Guard under a Governor's order under Chapter 127A for more than 30 consecutive days, and G.S. 127B-27(4) reaches a member of another state's Guard who resides in North Carolina and is under a similar order for more than 30 consecutive days. The form's own footnote also carries the current federal list, which now names the Space Force alongside the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard.

Foreclosure filers get a warning at the top of the page. The note above the declaration reads: "Though this form may be used in a Chapter 45 Foreclosure action, it is not a substitute for the certification that may be required by G.S. 45-21.12A." That statute bars exercising a power of sale during, or within 90 days after, a period of military service, and bars the clerk from holding the G.S. 45-21.16(d) hearing unless the creditor files a certification that the hearing will fall outside that window. So a power-of-sale foreclosure in North Carolina needs two separate military filings.

Side two of the form is a plain-language summary of the federal rule plus a cost rule that is purely North Carolina. It states that state funds are not available to pay attorneys appointed under the Act. It says that to comply with the federal Violence Against Women Act, and in consideration of G.S. 50B-2(a), 50C-2(b), and 50D-2(b), plaintiffs in Chapter 50B, 50C, and 50D proceedings should not be required to pay those costs. Plaintiffs in other actions may be required to pay, and "the allowance or disallowance of the ordering of costs will require a case-specific analysis." Side two also carries the note to the court not to enter judgment until a declaration is on file.

What trips filers up here

• Item 2 and item 3 are not the same question. A plaintiff who runs the DMDC search and stops has answered only half of what the form asks.
• A clean DMDC result does not clear a Guard member on a governor's order. The form says so on its face, which makes ignoring it hard to explain later.
• Chapter 45 foreclosures need the separate G.S. 45-21.12A certification. The declaration alone will not get the clerk to hold the hearing.
• Appointed counsel costs can land on the plaintiff outside domestic violence and no-contact cases, decided case by case.

Signing it: declaration, no notary

The closing line is "I declare (or certify, verify, or state) under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct," over a date, a signature of declarant, and a printed name. There is no notary block. The heading calls it a Declaration for that reason.

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.

North Carolina law on top of the federal rule

N.C. Gen. Stat. § 127B-27: Article 4 of Chapter 127B writes the federal Act into North Carolina law and widens the definition of military service to cover North Carolina National Guard members on State active duty over 30 consecutive days under a Governor's order, plus resident members of another state's Guard under a similar order. AOC-G-250 asks about that separately from the DMDC search.

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