A New York nonmilitary affidavit’s requirements differ slightly from those of other states. I New York, the document is sometimes called an Affidavit of Military Investigation, a non-military service affidavit, or a SCRA affidavit. But all affidavits are designed to do the same thing: confirm or deny a person’s active-duty status. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) requires plaintiffs in certain cases to file an affidavit about whether the defendant is in the military. If:
- a defendant is served with a complaint or statement of claim in any civil action
- a defendant fails to appear, and
- a plaintiff seeks a default judgment,
then the plaintiff is required to file a nonmilitary affidavit before the court will consider the case.
For example, if a defendant does not show up for a court case in New York, the plaintiff usually needs to present a nonmilitary affidavit in order to move forward. This proves the defendant is not on active duty status. The law excludes active-duty servicemembers from having to show up to court while deployed. See https://casetext.com/case/tivoli-assocs-v-foskey.
Also, you can’t begin a foreclosure of a property if the homeowner who is behind on his or her mortgage is on active duty. A lender who intends to foreclose on a homeowner in New York must first get a nonmilitary affidavit proving that the defendant is not on active duty.
How to Get a New York Nonmilitary Service Affidavit
Making the mistake of skipping active-duty status verification could drag out a legal process or end up getting you in legal trouble. Luckily, there are services that make it easy to get a nonmilitary affidavit.
For example, our company, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act Centralized Verification Service, accesses the Defense Department’s Defense Manpower Data Center to determine active-duty status. We can then provide you with a New York nonmilitary affidavit. This makes the process easier for lenders and debt collectors who have enough to worry about with payment issues.
Not procuring active-duty status verification can spell trouble for banks, lenders, landlords, car dealerships, and anyone who does business with military personnel. Getting a nonmilitary affidavit can be confusing and time-consuming. But you can use a service that can get you the documents you need, usually within 24 hours.
The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act Centralized Verification Service uses the Defense Department’s Defense Manpower Data Center to ascertain active-duty status. We then prepare a New York non military service affidavit for you. This helps lenders, debt collectors, landlords, storage operators, repossession companies, and others often who do not have the time to chase down all the paperwork associated with litigation.
Some courts may have their own, specific form of military affidavit. We keep a library of these local affidavit forms here on our site. You can select a local court form in a drop-down box. Our goal is to keep this forms library of local courts’ affidavits and certificates up to date. If you find that our drop-down box of forms is missing your local form or has an out-of-date form, send us a .pdf of the form you would like us to add. By doing so, you will be doing yourself, other users, and us a great favor. Note that you need to be registered and logged in to click on the link. Registration is free.
For further information, view our videos; “What You Need to Know About Military Affidavits,” and “The Military Affidavit in the Collections Process.”