The SCRA Affidavit in Maryland Evictions: Military Status Checks, the DoD Database, and the DCA-109 Fee

Every Maryland eviction has a federal law hiding inside it. Before a District Court judge will enter a judgment against a tenant who doesn't show up, the landlord must swear to the court whether that tenant is in the military. Get it right and it's a checkbox and a printout. Get it wrong and you're looking at a vacated judgment, a reopened case, and, for a knowingly false statement, a federal criminal penalty.

This is the servicemember affidavit requirement: where it comes from, where it actually lives in Maryland's forms (not where most guides say it does), how the Department of Defense database check works, and what it costs.

The affidavit isn't about whether your tenant is a servicemember. It's about whether you checked. The court punishes the not-checking, not the answer.

Where the Requirement Comes From: 50 U.S.C. § 3931

The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) is a federal statute that suspends or conditions civil proceedings against active-duty military members so that deployment doesn't cost them their legal rights by default. The provision that matters to landlords is 50 U.S.C. § 3931, which applies in any civil case where the defendant does not make an appearance, and an eviction where the tenant skips the hearing is precisely that case.

Before entering judgment for the plaintiff, the court must require an affidavit:

• Stating whether or not the defendant is in military service, supported by facts, or
• Stating that the plaintiff is unable to determine the defendant's status after reasonable effort.

If the defendant is a servicemember, the court cannot enter default judgment until it appoints an attorney to represent them, and it must grant a stay of proceedings of at least 90 days where the statute's conditions are met. If status can't be determined, the court may require the plaintiff to post a bond that protects the tenant if active-duty status surfaces later.

And the teeth: knowingly filing a false military affidavit is a federal crime punishable by fine, imprisonment up to one year, or both. Maryland's own Plaintiff's Guide to SCRA Compliance repeats the warning in plain terms.

This applies to every landlord in every eviction posture: Failure to Pay Rent, holding over, breach of lease. If there's any chance the tenant won't appear, and there always is, the affidavit requirement is live from the day you file.

Where the Affidavit Lives in Maryland: On DC-CV-082 Itself

Here's the detail most out-of-state guides get wrong. Many jurisdictions use a standalone numbered "non-military affidavit" form. Maryland's District Court, for Failure to Pay Rent cases, does not: the military service affidavit is built into the DC-CV-082 complaint, inside the sworn section signed under the penalties of perjury.

On the current form (DC-CV-082, Rev. 10/01/2024), the affidavit block gives you three paths:

• "At least one tenant is in the military service." Check this if any tenant of record is active duty. Expect the § 3931 machinery: appointed counsel, potential 90-day stay.
• "No tenant is in the military service and the facts supporting this statement are: ___" The facts line is not decorative. The form itself warns that specific facts must be given for the court to conclude that each tenant who is a natural person is not in the military. There is also a checkbox for "Verified through DOD at: scra.dmdc.osd.mil", which is the answer the court most wants to see.
• "I am unable to determine whether or not any tenant is in the military service." The honest fallback when you can't verify. This keeps you truthful but may cost you a bond requirement and time.

Because the affidavit is part of the complaint, you swear to military status at filing, before you know whether the tenant will appear. That's why the status check belongs in your pre-filing routine, right next to confirming the rent ledger, not something you scramble on after a no-show hearing. For everything else on the complaint, see the full DC-CV-082 field-by-field guide.

Outside FTPR, in other Maryland civil case types where judgment by affidavit or default is sought, plaintiffs file a military affidavit as its own document (Maryland's e-filing system has a dedicated document type for SCRA filings). The content requirement is the same: a factual basis for the status assertion, not a bare conclusion.

The DoD Database Check, Step by Step

The gold-standard factual basis is a certificate from the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC), the Department of Defense's system of record, via the SCRA website at scra.dmdc.osd.mil.

1. Gather identifiers. Last name plus Social Security number is the reliable combination; date of birth helps and can substitute in many searches. This is one more reason a complete rental application matters years before any eviction.
2. Run each tenant of record. Not just the lease signer you think of as "the tenant." Every named defendant on DC-CV-082 needs a status answer, and your affidavit covers all of them.
3. Save the certificate. The site returns a PDF certificate stating either that DoD records show active-duty status (with branch and start date) or that DoD possesses no information indicating current active duty. Date it, keep it with the case file, and bring it to the hearing.
4. No SSN and no DOB? DMDC accepts manual verification requests by mail, and Maryland's guidance describes the alternative: an affidavit built on genuine factual inquiry. Slower and weaker, but honest.

Timing note: run the check close to filing. A certificate from last year proves last year. Status changes, National Guard activations happen, and the affidavit speaks as of the date you sign it.

What It Costs: The DCA-109 Context

The affidavit itself is free to make. The tenants it covers are not free to sue.

Maryland's District Court cost schedule, DCA-109, sets the landlord-tenant filing costs, and it prices FTPR cases partly per tenant: alongside the summary ejectment filing fee, the schedule lists a service fee of $5 for each tenant of record in every county except Baltimore City, and in Baltimore City $5 per location plus $5 for each tenant for whom personal service is requested.

The connection to the SCRA affidavit is direct: the tenants of record you pay $5 each to serve are the same tenants your military affidavit must individually cover. Naming every leaseholder on the complaint is legally necessary (a judgment can't reach a tenant you didn't name), and each name added is one more service fee and one more status check.

At EvictPro, the Filing with Court stage is $99 with the base court filing fee included; Maryland's $5-per-tenant service fee is itemized at cost at checkout, per the DCA-109 schedule. See pricing for the full stage-by-stage breakdown.

If the Tenant Is Active Duty

An active-duty result is not a dead end; it's a different procedure:

• No default judgment without appointed counsel. The court appoints an attorney to represent the absent servicemember.
• A stay of at least 90 days where the statutory conditions are met, and servicemembers can request further stays tied to their duty obligations.
• The case continues afterward. The SCRA delays and conditions; it does not erase unpaid rent. Landlords who plan for the stay (and keep the ledger current through it) come out of it with the claim intact.

Related wrinkle: military housing situations often overlap with subsidized tenancies and voucher rules, which carry their own procedural overlays. If that's your situation, read the Section 8 eviction guide for Maryland alongside this one.

What you must never do is treat the affidavit as a formality to paper over. A judgment obtained on a false or careless military affidavit can be reopened on the tenant's motion, unwinding months of process, and the false-affidavit penalty is criminal, not administrative.

The Five SCRA Mistakes Maryland Landlords Make

1. Guessing. Checking "no tenant is in the military service" because it seems unlikely, with nothing on the facts line. This is the single most common failure and the most dangerous one.
2. Checking one tenant, not all. Two leaseholders means two database certificates. The affidavit covers every named defendant.
3. Stale certificates. A DMDC printout from move-in doesn't prove status at filing. Re-run it when you file.
4. Losing the certificate. The checkbox says verified through DoD; the judge may want to see the verification. It belongs in the case file with the lease and the ledger.
5. Ignoring an active-duty hit. Filing anyway and hoping the tenant defaults quietly is how landlords end up on the wrong side of a federal statute. Budget the 90 days into the case plan; the post-filing timeline guide shows where the stay slots in.

How EvictPro Handles It

EvictPro's SCRA Compliance Check is a $29 add-on that turns the affidavit from a risk into a receipt:

• Every tenant of record checked against the DoD's DMDC database, using the identifiers already in the case file.
• Dated certificates stored with the case documents, so the factual basis behind the affidavit is one click away at the hearing, or years later if a judgment is challenged.
• Affidavit alignment. The DC-CV-082 military service section is completed consistently with the certificate results, with the DoD-verification checkbox backed by an actual verification.
• Active-duty results surfaced early, before filing, when the 90-day stay is a scheduling input instead of a mid-case surprise.

It's the same compliance philosophy as the rest of the platform, whether you file once a decade or fifty times a quarter: catch the defect before the courthouse does. The affidavit requirement runs on the honor system right up until the moment it doesn't.

Related reading:

• How to Fill Out DC-CV-082, Field by Field
• What Happens After You File an FTPR Case in Maryland
• Section 8 Evictions in Maryland: What's Different
• Maryland Eviction Forms: The Complete Landlord's List

Every compliant filing starts before the complaint, with the free 10-day notice: