DD Form 137 Secondary Dependency Application: Filing and Recertification

To fill out DD Form 137, download the current consolidated version from the Executive Services Directorate at esd.whs.mil, gather your relationship and financial documents before you start, itemize the dependent’s income and expenses so the math shows you providing more than half their monthly living costs, get the notary blocks signed, and submit the package through the AskDFAS Secondary Dependency Claims portal or by U.S. mail.¹² As of August 2024 the Department of Defense consolidated all secondary dependency applications into a single DD Form 137, and the older branch-specific variants (DD Forms 137-3, 137-5, 137-6, and 137-7) became obsolete on July 1, 2025. Submit one of the old forms and it will be returned without action.³

Who the Form Is For

DD Form 137 registers a secondary dependent: a family member who doesn’t automatically qualify for military benefits but relies on the sponsor for more than half of their financial support. Four categories qualify:

Parents, parents-in-law, and stepparents, including a parent by adoption or someone who stood in loco parentis for at least five years before you turned 21.
Unmarried incapacitated children over 21 whose condition began while they were still your dependent (before 21, or before 23 if they were a full-time student).
Wards of the court under 21 for whom you have permanent legal custody or custody for at least 12 consecutive months.
Unmarried full-time students age 21 or 22 at an approved college who depend on you for at least 50 percent of their support.⁴

Parents, parents-in-law, and stepparents do not need to live with you to qualify, but if they don’t, they are not entitled to a Uniformed Services Identification and Privileges (USIP) card even after approval. The same restriction applies to in-loco-parentis dependents.¹

Gather Documents Before You Open the Form

Missing or incomplete documentation is the single most common reason applications get returned. Collect everything first.

Relationship Proof

For a parent, you need your birth certificate showing their name, plus any marriage licenses, divorce decrees, or court orders that explain name changes between documents.⁵ For an in-loco-parentis claim, you need DFAS Affidavits 9124 and 9125, sworn statements about the parental relationship and support history.⁴ For a ward, you need the court order granting custody. For an incapacitated adult child, you need a physician’s medical sufficiency letter stating when the incapacity began and whether the condition is permanent or temporary.⁶ Any document in a language other than English must be translated into English.

Income and Expense Records

The form asks for the dependent’s gross monthly income from every source. Pull recent bank statements, tax returns, Social Security benefit statements, pension documentation, and records of any public assistance. For expenses, collect mortgage or lease agreements, utility bills, insurance statements, and out-of-pocket medical bills.

Proof That You Actually Send Support

If the dependent does not live with you, you must show money moving from you to them. DFAS accepts:

A discretionary allotment to the dependent shown on your LES.
Canceled checks, front and back, made out to the dependent or their court-appointed custodian.
Money order receipts to the dependent or custodian.
Electronic transfer records to the dependent or custodian.
Bills paid on the dependent’s behalf, paired with proof of payment.
A mortgage statement or rental agreement if the dependent lives in a home you own or rent for them.⁷

DFAS will reject joint checking account statements, cash contributions, purchase receipts, ATM withdrawal receipts, and bank statements showing only withdrawals. If the dependent lives with you, proof-of-support documentation is generally not required because the shared household demonstrates the relationship.

One trap to watch for: if you plan to claim a car payment as one of the dependent’s expenses, the dependent’s name must appear on the vehicle registration. If it doesn’t, the payment can’t be counted.⁵ Student loan payments also can’t be counted as a living expense.

Work the 50 Percent Support Test First

Every secondary dependency claim turns on one number: does your contribution exceed 50 percent of the dependent’s actual monthly living expenses? Not 50 percent of their income. Fifty percent of what they actually spend to live.⁸

Do the math before you fill anything in. Add the dependent’s share of household expenses (rent or mortgage, utilities, property taxes, divided by the number of people in the household) to their personal expenses (clothing, out-of-pocket medical, transportation, food). That total is the target. Then look at what the dependent brings in on their own: Social Security, pensions, investments, public assistance. If their own income already covers more than half the expense total, the claim will be denied.¹ If not, your contribution has to cover the gap and then some, and you have to document it.

Filling In the Form

Type or print legibly. The consolidated DD Form 137 covers all four dependent categories, so the same form works regardless of the relationship.

Section 1 asks which type of dependent you’re claiming and directs you to attach the corresponding documentation: Affidavits 9124 and 9125 for in-loco-parentis, the medical sufficiency letter for an incapacitated child, the custody order for a ward. Later sections capture your information, the dependent’s information, gross monthly income from all sources, and the itemized household and personal expense breakdown.

The one rule that gets more applications returned than any other: never leave a block blank. If a question doesn’t apply, write “N/A.” If a dollar entry has no value, write “0.00.” Empty fields are treated as incomplete and get the whole package sent back unread.⁵

All notary blocks on the form must be notarized. This is a hard requirement. An un-notarized application will be returned without any review of the merits.⁹ JAG offices and base legal assistance offices can typically notarize for free. Sign and date at the bottom.

Submitting the Application

DFAS accepts completed applications two ways: online through the AskDFAS Secondary Dependency Claims portal, or by U.S. mail. Fax and email submissions are not accepted.²

The online portal is faster. After uploading the package through AskDFAS, you’ll receive a ticket number by email. Keep it until you have a final determination. For mail submissions, use the address listed on the DFAS Secondary Dependency Contact Us page, which varies by branch. Air Force, Marine Corps, and Space Force members may need to submit through their service’s own processing offices rather than directly to DFAS.¹⁰

Keep copies of everything you send. Reviewers commonly request additional clarification or missing documents mid-review, and having your own file makes responding faster. Don’t submit too early either: a determination cannot be completed more than 90 days before the dependency would begin.

Mistakes That Get Applications Returned

DFAS will send the package back without a merits review if any of the following are true:

Any block on the form is blank instead of “N/A” or “0.00.”
A notary block is missing a stamp or signature.
Handwriting is illegible.
Proof of support is a form DFAS doesn’t accept (cash, ATM receipts, purchase receipts, joint-account statements, or bank statements that only show withdrawals).
Relationship documents don’t fully link current names to birth certificates (missing marriage license, divorce decree, or court order for a name change).
A foreign-language document has no certified English translation.
The submission uses an obsolete DD Form 137-3, 137-5, 137-6, or 137-7.³

After Approval: DEERS and the ID Card

Approval by DFAS does not by itself activate any benefit. Once you have the approval letter, register the dependent in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS) at an ID card office. You can locate one through idco.dmdc.osd.mil. Bring the approval letter and the dependent’s identification.¹¹ Without the DEERS step, the approval letter alone doesn’t grant commissary access, pharmacy privileges, or any other entitlement.

The ID card office will update the record through RAPIDS and, where the dependent qualifies, issue a USIP card. Parents, parents-in-law, and in-loco-parentis dependents who don’t live with you will not receive a USIP card, even with an approved claim.¹

Recertifying the Claim

Approval is not permanent. The schedule depends on which benefit the dependent receives:

If you draw BAH based on the dependent, recertify every year. Resubmit the application and supporting financial documentation annually.¹²
If the dependent has only a USIP card and you’re not drawing BAH, recertify every four years.

Let the deadline pass and BAH will be stopped or reduced, with no back pay for the lapse period.¹³ Set a reminder ahead of the anniversary of your approval. Recertification uses the same form and documentation; treat it as filing fresh.

What a Bad Claim Can Cost

You are responsible for telling DFAS right away if the dependent’s residential, financial, or marital status changes, or if your contribution drops below half of their monthly expenses. If a claim is later found to be invalid, DFAS will issue a Notice of Indebtedness. Under the tainted-claim rule, DFAS can recover not just the difference between the with-dependents and without-dependents BAH rates, but potentially the entire BAH paid during the invalid period. In one Army case, the rate difference was roughly $36,000, but the total debt assessed under the tainted-claim rule reached nearly $249,000.¹⁴

DoD Approval Does Not Equal an IRS Dependent

Approval as a DoD secondary dependent does not let you claim the same person on your federal tax return. The IRS uses a separate “qualifying relative” test. For the 2025 tax year, the person’s gross income must be below $5,050, and you must provide more than half their total support.¹⁵ The two tests measure different things: the DoD test looks at monthly living expenses; the IRS test looks at total support including items like the fair market value of lodging. A parent whose Social Security exceeds $5,050 can qualify as a DoD secondary dependent yet fail the IRS gross income test. Run each calculation on its own.

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Defense Technical Information Center. DD Form 137 – Secondary Dependency Application
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Defense Finance and Accounting Service. Secondary Dependency – General Information
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Defense Finance and Accounting Service. Medical Sufficiency Letter
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