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Treat DD Form 137-7 as Department-level, which changes how you look for it. Title: DD Form 137-7, Dependency Statement - Ward of a Court. Function: Dependency Statement - Ward of a Court ( Instructions ). Because the number carries DD rather than a service prefix, the same edition covers all military departments and the defense agencies at once. Nobody issues a Navy copy or an Air Force copy.
not stated is the prescribing publication and not stated the office responsible for the document. Deadlines belong to local implementing guidance, not to either of those, so a submission date is a question for the receiving office.
Edition not stated, status not stated. That comparison is the first thing worth making, because a DD form supersedes centrally and an old copy in a shared drive is out of date for every office, not just yours.
The set is PDF. Size: 5 pages, about 200 fields. Everything below refines that choice.
Take the fillable pdf unless you have a reason not to. Fillable means the boxes are real fields that accept typed text and retain it in the file. Printable means a flat blank — no fields, printer and pen only. The difference is not cosmetic: one produces a record that reproduces cleanly through scanning and forwarding, the other depends on penmanship.
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).
- Mark X if other status.
- 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. Ward. a. Name (last, first, middle initial).
- c. Date of birth. Four digit year, two digit month, two digit day.
- d. Complete address: Street, apartment number, city, state, zip code.
Verify the edition before the first keystroke. The date on the form face should read not stated. If it does not, discard the file. Field numbering shifts between editions, and on a DD form the new layout reaches every receiving office in every service at once — there is no lag during which the old version is still normal somewhere.
Field-level questions go to the printed instructions, then to not stated, which is authoritative.
Send it as not stated or local guidance specifies. Save a copy. Cross-service and cross-agency routing is normal for Department forms, and a lost original outside your own organization is harder to chase down.
A number is a complete address in the DD series. Because the sequence is Department-level and not duplicated per service, there is nothing further to specify.
Do not read across from a service number. DA numbering is Army-specific under an Army proponent; DD numbering is Department-wide under not stated or an equivalent Department office. The sequences are unrelated, so identical digits in each identify two different documents. Read the prefix, not the digits.
Revision follows directive changes, changed data requirements and amended notice language, unannounced. Verify not stated each time rather than trusting a saved copy — the cost of the check is seconds.
Limits of this page: it distributes a published Department of Defense document and describes it. No legal advice, no procedural ruling, no statement about whether any submission will be accepted. Applicability, eligibility and procedure belong to not stated, to a servicing personnel office, or to the office named in not stated.
Questions and answers
- What is DD Form 137-7?
- DD Form 137-7, Dependency Statement - Ward of a Court
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?