To fill out DD Form 137-4, you document that you provide more than half of a parent’s, stepparent’s, or parent-in-law’s total support, then submit the completed form with 12 months of financial records to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service. The form is a fillable PDF available from the DoD Executive Services Directorate at esd.whs.mil, and your branch personnel or admin office can also point you to it. Most of the work happens before you start typing: DFAS applies an “in fact” support test, so the numbers on the form have to match the receipts, statements, and bank records behind them.1Defense Finance and Accounting Service. DD Form 137-4 Dependency Statement – Section: Financial Dependency
Confirm the Parent Qualifies
Title 37 of the U.S. Code defines “parent” broadly for military dependency. A natural, step, or adoptive parent of you or your spouse qualifies, as does a parent-in-law. So does someone who stood in loco parentis to you for at least five continuous years before you turned 21, including a former stepparent.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 37 USC 401 – Definitions
For a stepparent or parent-in-law, the marriage that created the link generally must still be intact, or the parent must remain unremarried. In loco parentis claims carry the heaviest documentation burden, because there is no certificate proving the relationship. You will need affidavits and other records showing the person raised you during the required period.
Gather the Financial Evidence First
The support test is straightforward on paper: your contribution must exceed the combined total of the parent’s own income used for self-support plus anything anyone else contributes. Social Security, pensions, investment returns, and VA benefits the parent receives all count on the parent’s side of the ledger. Assemble the records first, month by month, so the figures you enter on the form are supported by paper.
- Your most recent federal tax return if you claimed the parent as a dependent. If you did not, complete the Worksheet for Determining Financial Support that accompanies the DD Form 137 package.1Defense Finance and Accounting Service. DD Form 137-4 Dependency Statement – Section: Financial Dependency
- The parent’s income documentation: Social Security benefit statements, pension or annuity statements, investment account summaries, VA payment letters, and pay stubs if the parent works. Get gross monthly figures for each source.
- Proof of your contributions for each of the past 12 months: bank statements, canceled checks, money order receipts, allotment records, or statements showing payments you made directly to third parties on the parent’s behalf.
- Household expenses: mortgage or rent receipts, property tax bills, homeowner’s or renter’s insurance, and 12 months of utilities. Average these across the year for realistic monthly figures.
- Personal expenses: medical bills, insurance premium statements, clothing receipts, transportation costs.
- Identity information: full Social Security numbers for you and the parent, plus your military ID.
If the parent lives in your household, split housing and utility costs by the number of people in the home. A parent living with four others in a home where rent is $2,000 has a housing share of roughly $400, not $2,000. Inflated numbers are the fastest way to get a package returned.
Filling Out the Form Section by Section
Identification and Entitlements
The opening section asks what you are requesting: BAH, an identification card, or both. It also asks whether this is a first application or a recertification, and the result of any prior application. Enter your full name, Social Security number, rank, branch, duty status, and contact information. Verify the SSN carefully. DFAS matches the entry against the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System, and a transposed digit can add weeks to processing.
Parent’s Information and Household
Enter the parent’s full name, Social Security number, date of birth, and current address. A separate block captures everyone living in the parent’s household, their relationship to the parent, ages, and whether they work. That headcount is what DFAS uses to divide shared housing and utility costs into a per-person share.
Expenses, Income, and Your Contributions
This is where applications succeed or fail. For each expense category (housing, food, utilities, medical, clothing, transportation, and other), enter both the monthly amount and the 12-month total. The next block captures the parent’s monthly and annual income from every source. A final section records the total amount you contributed each month for the past 12 months and how you delivered it: allotment, personal check, money order, or direct payment to a provider.
Be precise. Round numbers without supporting records read as estimates, and DFAS will ask for documentation. Payments you made directly to a utility, landlord, or medical provider on the parent’s behalf count as support; list them and include the account records showing the payments went through.
Signatures and Notarization
The parent, or a legal representative if the parent is incapacitated, signs the form in front of a notary public. You sign separately as the sponsor. The form warns of penalties under Title 18 of the U.S. Code for knowingly making false statements to a federal agency, and service members also face potential charges under Article 107 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice for false official statements.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 907 – Art. 107 False Official Statements; False Swearing
Military legal assistance offices provide notary services free of charge to active duty, reserve, and retired members and their families.4Navy JAG Corps. Legal Assistance Off-base notary fees typically run between $2 and $25 per signature depending on the state.
Where to Submit the Package
DFAS accepts completed secondary dependency packages two ways: through the AskDFAS online portal or by mail. The portal is faster, and you get a ticket number by email for tracking after upload.5Defense Finance and Accounting Service. Secondary Dependency
If you mail the package, the address depends on your branch. Army members send to:
DFAS-IN/Secondary Dependency
ATTN: JFLAKA DFAS INDIANAPOLIS
8899 East 56th Street
Indianapolis, IN 46249-3300
Navy members filing parent, parent-in-law, or student dependency claims send to:
DFAS-Cleveland
ATTN: Dependency Claims
1240 East 9th Street
Cleveland, OH 441996Defense Finance and Accounting Service. Secondary Dependency Contact Us
Air Force and Marine Corps members should check the DFAS Secondary Dependency Contact Us page for their branch-specific address. DFAS does not accept applications by fax or email.5Defense Finance and Accounting Service. Secondary Dependency
After You Submit
DFAS reviews the financial evidence against the support test and either approves, denies, or returns the package requesting more documentation. Expect several weeks at minimum, longer during high-volume periods. If your package is returned, respond quickly, because each delay adds weeks to an already slow process.
Approved parents may become eligible for the with-dependents BAH rate, a Uniformed Services Identification and Privilege card if they live with you, travel allowances tied to permanent change of station moves, and commissary, exchange, and MWR access.1Defense Finance and Accounting Service. DD Form 137-4 Dependency Statement – Section: Financial Dependency A parent or parent-in-law who does not live with you is not entitled to the USIP card, and anyone qualifying under the in loco parentis category is also not entitled to one.
Approval is not permanent. If you receive BAH based on the secondary dependent, you must redetermine every year that you still provide more than half the parent’s support. If the parent holds only a USIP card and you do not receive BAH for them, redetermination runs every four years.7Defense Finance and Accounting Service. Secondary Dependency Incapacitated Child Missing a recertification deadline can mean loss of benefits and recoupment of overpaid BAH, so set a calendar reminder well before each anniversary.
What Approval Does Not Include
Approved parental dependents are not covered by standard TRICARE plans the way a spouse or child would be. They can receive care at military hospitals and clinics on a space-available basis and fill prescriptions at military pharmacies. Sponsors on active duty for more than 30 days, and retirees, can apply to enroll dependent parents and parents-in-law in TRICARE Plus for primary care at a military treatment facility.8TRICARE. Dependent Parents and Parents-in-Law TRICARE Plus does not cover civilian providers, and space-available means active duty members and their primary dependents come first. For a parent with serious or chronic medical needs, military facilities should not be treated as a replacement for Medicare or private insurance.
Approval as a military dependent through DD Form 137-4 also does not make the parent your dependent for federal income tax purposes. The IRS has its own qualifying-relative test with a separate gross income limit and its own support calculation. If you plan to claim the parent on your tax return, check IRS Publication 501 for the current rules. Meeting the military support test does not guarantee you meet the IRS one.