The Washington military affidavit

How Washington handles it

Washington asks a broader question than the federal statute does, because its own act protects dependents as well as servicemembers. RCW 38.42.050(2) requires the plaintiff to file an affidavit stating "whether the defendant is in military service, or is a dependent of a service member in military service, and showing necessary facts to support the affidavit," or stating that the plaintiff cannot determine either one. Section 3931 of title 50 reaches only the servicemember.

The statewide form tracks the statute. Item 7 of FL All Family 161 is captioned "Active Duty Military" and prints, before the boxes, who each act covers: the federal act for the five armed services on active duty, Guard and Reserve under a call to active service of more than 30 days in a row, and the commissioned corps of the Public Health Service and NOAA; the state act for those same people if they are stationed in or resident in Washington, plus their dependents, minus the two commissioned corps. You then check one of three: the other party is not covered, the other party is covered but is represented by a lawyer with no Response filed and no stay running, or "I don't know whether the other party is covered ... I did the following things to try to find out."

The "not covered" box has four sub-reasons, and the second one exists nowhere else. You can attach the Defense Manpower Data Center report; or you can state that you sent a Notice re Military Dependent, form FL All Family 103, and got no response within 20 days claiming protected dependent status; or you can rely on personal knowledge with a written explanation; or "other."

That notice is how the presumption is earned. Under RCW 38.42.050(3)(b), if the notice is served 20 or more days before the default application, or mailed more than 23 days before it, and the person does not respond, the court "may presume that the defendant is not a dependent of a service member in the military service under this chapter." The statute prints the notice text, and FL All Family 103 (optional form, 06/2018) reproduces it, telling the recipient that answering "is not the same as appearing or responding to the Petition."

Mechanics around the motion: FL All Family 161 is a mandatory form revised 06/2026 and cites CR 55(a) and RCW 26.09.030. You must give advance notice of the hearing if the other party filed a Notice of Appearance or if more than a year has passed since the Summons and Petition were filed and served; otherwise the Order on Motion for Default (FL All Family 162, 06/2026) can be signed ex parte, and the Superior Court Clerk sets that procedure county by county. Item 5 also asks you to name the service method and confirm the matching wait, from 21 days for personal service inside Washington to 91 days for service by mail.

What trips filers up here

• Signing a false one is a felony in Washington. RCW 38.42.050(8) makes a person who makes or uses an affidavit under that section knowing it to be false "guilty of a class C felony." The federal offense at 50 U.S.C. § 3931(c) is capped at one year.
• The stay is twice the federal minimum. RCW 38.42.050(5) requires a stay "until one hundred eighty days after termination of or release from military service," and it adds that a defendant who stops communicating with appointed counsel after being reached does not thereby let the court find counsel was unable to make contact.
• The statewide default set is family law only. The court-forms index files "Order of Default" under Financial Forms and lists exactly FL All Family 161, 162 and 185 plus a SCOMIS civil cover sheet. A general civil or unlawful detainer filer drafts the declaration themselves against CR 55 and RCW 38.42.050.
• Dependent coverage is narrower than the phrase suggests. The FL All Family 103 notice reaches dependents of National Guard or Reserve members under a call to active service, or Guard members called up by the governor of Washington, for more than 30 consecutive days. It defines a dependent as the spouse, a minor child, or someone the servicemember supported more than half of for the 180 days before the request for relief.

Signing it: declaration, no notary

The signature block reads "I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the state of Washington that the facts I have provided on this form are true," followed by a line for the city and state where it was signed and the date. No notary, no clerk.

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.

Washington law on top of the federal rule

RCW 38.42.050: Washington's own default-judgment section, part of the state Service Members' Civil Relief Act. It requires the affidavit to address dependents as well as servicemembers, sets up the 20-day dependent notice and the presumption that follows it, bars judgment until counsel is appointed, requires a stay to 180 days past release, makes a knowingly false affidavit a class C felony, and lets a judgment entered during service or within 180 days after it be reopened. Read at app.leg.wa.gov on August 15, 2026.

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