Download the form
Treat DD Form 2656-10 as Department-level, which changes how you look for it. Title: DD Form 2656-10, SBP/RC SBP Request for Deemed Election, April 2009. Function: Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) / Reserve Component (RC) SBP Request for Deemed Election. 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.
Authority: not stated prescribes it, not stated maintains it. Those two names settle most disputes about why the form is being asked for. Local commands add timing on top; the requirement itself comes from above them.
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comparison is the first thing worth making, because a DD form supersedes centrally and an old copy in a shared drive is out of date for every office, not just yours.
Available: PDF, across 2 pages, roughly 56 fields. That is the whole scope of the download decision.
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.
Xfdl is a legacy Department format, IBM Lotus Forms, requiring the matching viewer. Its survival in DD distribution reflects how widely it was fielded across the Department, not any advantage over pdf today.
Free download, every format. Do not fill the form in a browser tab — browser pdf viewers handle interactive fields inconsistently and discard entries on close.
What the form asks for
- 3.a. Branch of service.
- b. Press space bar to mark X in first box if active duty, second box if reserve, or third box if National Guard.
- 4. Is member retired? X first box if yes, second box if no.
- 5. If yes, date of retirement (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day, no dividers).
- Section 2 - Former spouse information. 6. Former spouse name (last, first, middle initial).
- 7. Social Security number.
- 8. Address (include zip code).
- 9. Date of birth (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day).
- 10. Marriage history. a. Date married to member (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day).
- b. Date of divorce (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day).
- c. Are you currently married? X first box if yes, second box if no.
- d. If yes, date of current marriage (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day).
- Section 1 - Member information. 1. Member name (last, first, middle initial).
- 2. Social Security number. Do not include dashes.
- 11. Is election made pursuant to requirements of court order? X first box if yes, second box if no.
- 12. Is election being made pursuant to written agreement previously entered into voluntarily as part of or incident to a proceeding of divorce, dissolution or annulment? X first box if yes, second box if no.
- 13. If "yes" to question 12, was such voluntary written agreement incorporated in, ratified, or approved by a court order? X first box if yes, second box if no.
- Section 4 - Dependent Children information. 14.a. Name (last, first, middle initial), line 1 of 7.
- b. Date of birth (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day).
- c. Social security number.
- d. Relationship (son, daughter, stepson, etc.).
- e. Disabled? (Yes or no.)
- a. Name, line 2.
- b. Date of birth.
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.
For anything ambiguous in a specific field, the form's own instructions come first and not stated controls where the two differ.
Submit to the office named in not stated or in local instruction; retain a duplicate before it leaves. Joint routing often sends a DD form across organizational boundaries, and tracing one afterward is not a same-day matter.
Look up cross-referenced forms by series and number. DD numbering is unified across the Department, which removes the usual step of identifying which service issued the thing.
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.
Editions change when the prescribing directive is reissued, when the data collected changes, or when notice language is amended. None of that reaches you. Checking not stated at download is the entire defence, and it is cheaper than repeating a submission.
What is here is the blank form and a description of it. What is not here is legal guidance or any assurance about a particular filing — this page is not the issuing authority and does not speak for one. Those questions go to not stated, to your servicing administrative office, or to the authority identified in not stated.
Questions and answers
- What is DD Form 2656-10?
- DD Form 2656-10, SBP/RC SBP Request for Deemed Election, April 2009
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?