Title 50 U.S.C. § 3931 requires all Plaintiffs to file an affidavit verifying a Defendant’s military status when entering a default Order. CSS is in a unique position because CSS does not represent either the Custodial Parent or Non-Custodial Parent. Thus, when a party was served and failed to appear, be it a Custodial Parent or Non-Custodial Parent, a Default Affidavit Pursuant to Service members Civil Relief Act , 50 U.S.C. § § 3901-4043 must be completed for each and every defaulting party.
An example of this affidavit is shown in the SCRA Default Affidavit new codification as of Jan 2020.pdf document.
Steps to Complete Affidavit
In order to accurately complete this affidavit, one must verify the active duty status of each defaulting party. Go to the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) website (see image below) to make a “single record request” by pressing on Single Record Request to the right of Home.
You will be prompted to create a login. Please select a username and a password that you will be able to remember for future use as well.
Once you have logged in, select again the Single Record Request to the right at Home.
When the Single Record Request is submitted, a question will appear at the bottom of the page Do you want to open XXXXXXXX.pdf (00 KB) from scra-w.dmdc.osd.mil? When you open or save this report it will provide the active duty status and dates and other necessary information to complete the affidavit. The two-page report should be printed and both pages attached to the Default Affidavit.
To find out more information about SCRA related articles, you may want to review Military and Service Members Relief Act article links.