The Tennessee military affidavit

How Tennessee handles it

Tennessee has no statewide military affidavit, and its default judgment rule does not create one. Rule 55.01 of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure, read on tncourts.gov on August 15, 2026, covers who applies, who gets notice, and what proof the court may take. It says nothing about military service. The Administrative Office of the Courts list of Trial and General Sessions Court Forms carries affidavits of indigency, affidavits of complaint, and an affidavit of income and property, but no military affidavit. The document therefore comes from the individual court.

The Chancery Court of Shelby County, the Thirtieth Judicial District at Memphis, publishes a two-page Military Status Affidavit on the county site. Page one is the affidavit. Page two is a jurat plus an instruction block written in general terms for Tennessee courts: it recites the section 3931 requirement to state whether or not the defendant is in military service and show necessary facts, the option to satisfy it with a signed writing declared true under penalty of perjury, the rule that the court may not enter judgment against a servicemember until it appoints an attorney, and the bond the court may require when status cannot be determined.

The affidavit asks for four things. Who you are, by checkbox: the plaintiff, or the attorney of record for the plaintiff. Which of three statements is true: the named defendant is not in military service, the named defendant is in military service, or you are unable to determine whether or not the defendant is in military service. A free text line reading "I know this because" for the facts behind your answer. And a contact block with printed name, address, telephone, and e-mail address. There is no checkbox for attaching a Defense Manpower Data Center certificate, so the "I know this because" line is where the search goes, and the certificate goes behind it as an exhibit.

The notice rule is where Tennessee default packages fail more often than on the affidavit. Rule 55.01 requires that, except where service was properly made by publication, all parties against whom a default judgment is sought be served with written notice of the application at least five days before the hearing "regardless of whether the party has made an appearance in the action." A party served by publication gets that notice only if they appeared. So the military affidavit and the five-day notice of application travel together, and a clean affidavit does not cure a missing notice.

Pick the right courthouse before you print anything. Chancery is one of three Tennessee trial courts of general jurisdiction alongside circuit and criminal courts, and most consumer debt and eviction defaults in Tennessee are taken in general sessions court on a civil warrant issued by the county clerk. Davidson County’s general sessions civil warrant, for example, is its own printed form with the judgment recorded on its face. Ask the clerk of the court you filed in which military affidavit that court accepts.

What trips filers up here

• The instruction block still cites "50 U.S.C. App. 501 et seq." and sends filers to https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/appj/scra/scraHome.do, which returned 404 on August 15, 2026. The live site is scra.dmdc.osd.mil.
• This is a Shelby County Chancery form. It is not authority in Davidson, Knox, or Hamilton County. Treat it as a model, then confirm with your clerk, because Tennessee clerks set the local default packet.
• Rule 55.01 gives five days notice of the application to a party who never appeared, which is shorter than the thirty days some Tennessee practitioners assume and longer than the zero many out of state filers assume. Count it.
• The Clerk and Master can swear the affidavit, which is worth knowing if you are self represented and were about to pay a notary. Bring photo identification and sign at the counter.

Signing it: notarization required

The signer personally appears and states the facts "under penalty of perjury," and page one is then sworn to and subscribed on page two either before the Clerk and Master, by a deputy clerk, or before a notary who fills in a commission expiration date. The courthouse can administer it, so no outside notary fee is required.

This form carries a notary block, so budget for a notary before your filing date. Federal law sets a floor, not a ceiling: 50 U.S.C. § 3931(b)(4) permits an unsworn declaration under penalty of perjury, but a state is free to require more on its own form, and this one does.

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