So what is DD Form 137-5? The short answer: a Defense Department document, officially DD Form 137-5, Dependency Statement - Incapacitated Child Over Age 21, used to Dependency Statement - Incapacitated Child Over Age 21 ( Instructions ). Anything else you need follows from that.
Does it apply to your branch? Yes. The DD prefix means Department of Defense, not one service, so the same blank serves the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force and the Coast Guard under Defense jurisdiction. There is no Army version and no Navy version to search for.
Who is behind it? not stated maintains the form, and not stated is the publication that requires it. Those two names answer most questions about why you are being asked to submit anything at all.
Is this the right edition? The current one is dated not stated, and the publisher carries it as not stated. Check that against whatever copy you already have before going further.
What the form asks for
- 1.Entitlements Requested. a. Type. Press space bar to mark X if B A H.
- Mark X if Travel Allowance.
- Mark X if U S I P card.
- 1.b. First application? X first box if yes, second box if no.
- If no, give date of last application. Four digit year, two digit month, two digit day.
- c. Last application was: X first box if approved, second box if disapproved.
- 2.Member information. a. Name (Last, First, Middle Initial).
- 2.b. DoD ID Number.
- 2.c. Rank.
- d. Status. X first box if active duty, second box if retired, third box if national guard, fourth box if reserve.
- X first box if Army, second box if Marine Corps, third box if Navy, fourth box if Air Force.
- Mark X if deceased.
- If deceased: Date of death (Four digit year, two digit month, two digit day).
- X if any other status or service.
- Specify other status.
- 2.e. Complete residence address (Street, apartment number, city, state and zip code).
- 2.f. Complete military address (include assignment, squadron and base).
- 2.g.(1) Work telephone number.
- (2) Home telephone number.
- 2.h. E-mail address.
- 2.i. Marital status. X first box if single, second box if married, third box if separated, fourth box if divorced, or fifth box if widowed.
- 3. Member's child. a. Name (last, first, middle initial).
- c. Date of birth. Four digit year, two digit month, two digit day.
- d. Relationship to member. X first box if legitimate child, second box if child born out of wedlock, third box if adopted child, or fourth box if stepchild.
Download the form
Which files are here? These: PDF. How much work is involved? 5 pages, about 200 entry fields.
Why do two kinds of pdf exist? Because two kinds of user exist. One completes the form on screen and forwards a file; the other prints a blank and fills it by hand. The fillable release has interactive boxes, the printable release is a static image of the same page.
Should you type or write? Type, whenever the choice is yours. The reason is what happens after submission: the record gets copied and scanned, and every pass costs handwriting legibility that typed entries never lose.
Can you skip around the form? Better not to. The layout runs identification, then content, then certification, and entries near the bottom frequently take their meaning from what sits above them.
What if your copy is old? Replace it. Check the date printed on the form against not stated. Old blanks circulate for years in shared folders, and because a DD revision lands across the whole Department at once, the receiving office will be working from the new layout.
What if a specific field still puzzles you? Read the instructions printed on the form, then not stated. Which wins if they differ? The directive.
Where does the completed form go? To the office named in not stated or in your organization's local procedure. Should you keep a copy? Always — a scan or a saved file costs nothing and spares you the whole exercise if the original disappears.
Do you need to know which branch issued a related form? No. DD numbering is Department-wide and unified, which means the number on its own is a complete address for the document.
Why do some instructions cite both a DA and a DD form? Because the procedure touches both systems, not because the forms are related. Service forms answer to a service proponent; DD forms answer to not stated or another Department office. The sequences were never aligned.
How often does a form like this change? Unpredictably — revision follows directive changes, altered collection requirements and updated notice language. What is the practical defence? Verifying not stated every time you download rather than trusting a saved copy.
Will your completed form be accepted? That is not a question this page can answer. What you have here is a published Department of Defense document, a description of it and instructions for filling it out. Nothing on the page is legal advice, and nothing here determines what any office does with a submission. Where do the remaining questions go? To not stated, to your servicing personnel office, or to the office named in not stated.
Questions and answers
- What is DD Form 137-5?
- DD Form 137-5, Dependency Statement - Incapacitated Child Over Age 21
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?