The Wyoming military affidavit

How Wyoming handles it

Wyoming does not print a military affidavit. It prints one sentence inside a larger affidavit, and that sentence carries the whole SCRA obligation. Every district court default in the Judicial Branch packets moves in three pieces: an Application for Entry of Default, an Affidavit in Support of Entry of Default, and a proposed Entry of Default. The military language is in paragraph 5 of the affidavit: "The Defendant failed to answer or otherwise plead as required by law. The Defendant is not incompetent and is not a minor. The Defendant is not in the military service of the United States. This Affidavit is executed for the purpose of enabling Plaintiff to obtain an Entry of Default against the Defendant."

There is one option, and it is a flat assertion. No box for "in military service," no box for "unable to determine," no line for the facts behind the statement, and no place to attach a Department of Defense status report. A Wyoming plaintiff who cannot rule out service cannot complete the printed form honestly and has to draft a substitute affidavit that says what 50 U.S.C. Section 3931(b)(1)(B) allows, which is that the plaintiff is unable to determine status.

Paragraphs 3 and 4 do the timing work that decides whether the affidavit is ripe. Paragraph 3 asks which method of service was used: a deputy or sheriff of a named county and state, a filed Acknowledgment and Acceptance of Service, publication in a named newspaper on named dates, or certified mail, restricted delivery, return receipt requested, issued by the Clerk of District Court under Rule 4(r)(2) of the Wyoming Rules of Civil Procedure with the green postal signature card attached. Paragraph 4 then asks you to check more than 20 days if the defendant was served inside Wyoming, or more than 30 days if served outside Wyoming, by publication, or by certified mail, counting from the day after service was completed.

The same paragraph 5 appears across the whole district court family: DIVCP 16 and DIVNoCP 12 for divorce with and without minor children, CSMP 14 for child support modification, CCMP 14 for custody and child support modification, ECVSP 15, GMCP 9 for guardianship petitions, and TGMCM 6 for guardianship termination. All were last revised May 2025 and carry a May 2025 packet date. Each form also ends with a checkbox reading "A Wyoming Court Navigator helped with this form," part of the Judicial Branch program staffed in Natrona and Uinta County circuit and district courts.

The circuit court side is a different world. Wyoming's small claims set (SC 01 through SC 07, revised November 2024) and the forcible entry and detainer packet contain no military recital at all. A landlord evicting through circuit court and a creditor filing a small claim get no prompt from the Judicial Branch forms, and 50 U.S.C. Section 3931 still applies to them because it reaches any civil action or proceeding where the defendant has not appeared.

What trips filers up here

• No "unable to determine" option exists on any Wyoming default affidavit. The form only lets you swear the defendant is not serving.
• The affidavit both declares under penalty of perjury and requires a jurat before the clerk of court or a notarial officer. Filers who treat the opening declaration as a substitute for the oath get the form kicked back.
• The forms index title and the caption on the page do not match. The Judicial Branch lists it as "DIVNoCP 12. Affidavit of Plaintiff in Support of Default," while the document itself is captioned "AFFIDAVIT IN SUPPORT OF ENTRY OF DEFAULT."
• Small claims and eviction filings in circuit court have no military paragraph anywhere in the packet, so the SCRA step is easy to skip in exactly the two case types that produce the most defaults.

Signing it: notarization required

The affidavit opens "Under penalty of perjury, I declare the following" and still ends with a jurat: "SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN to before me this ___ day of ___, 20__. Witness my hand and official seal," signed by the CLERK OF COURT/NOTARIAL OFFICER with a commission expiration date. Both formulas appear on the same two-page form, so sign it in front of the clerk or a notary.

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.

Wyoming law on top of the federal rule

W.S. § 19-11-122: Members of the Wyoming National Guard ordered to active state service by the state or federal government for more than 30 consecutive days "shall have all protections afforded to persons in the armed forces of the United States under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, Public Law 108-189." Subsection (b) makes a knowing violation of those protections a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $1,000. Verified in Wyoming Statutes Title 19 at wyoleg.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 Wyoming and looking for what the state adds to your own protections rather than court procedure? That is a different page: Wyoming SCRA benefits.