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DA Form 5328 is a DA series document issued for use across the Department of the Army. Official title: BONA FIDE DEPENDENT DECLARATION (CIVILIAN). Purpose: bona fide dependent declaration (civilian). The current edition carries the date 02/01/2009 and is listed with a publication status of ACTIVE. The form runs to 1 page(s) and contains approximately 88 entry fields.
Responsibility for content and revision lies with G-1. The prescribing directive is AR 638-2, which sets both the trigger for use and the disposition of the completed document. Entry is made by the named party or by the records clerk holding the file, with review and signature applied in the prescribed order.
Available formats: PDF, XFDL. Each is a rendering of the same official layout; the content is identical across them and only the means of completion differs. The pdf is the reference copy. Fillable pdf carries interactive form fields; a printable pdf is the same page image without them, intended for pen entry after printing.
Any modern browser or reader will display a pdf. Interactive fields behave more predictably in a standalone reader than in an in-browser viewer, which sometimes shows fields it cannot store. An xfdl copy is published as well. It is IBM Lotus Forms, the format carried by several Army systems, and it needs the Lotus Forms Viewer; pdf readers and word processors will not open it.
All formats are free to download and no registration is involved. The files are the published documents, distributed unmodified.
What the form asks for
- ACTUAL
- ADDRESS
- BROTHER
- CHILDREN
- ContentArea1
- DATE
- DATE_DD
- DATE_DE
- DECEASED
- DEPENDENT
- GRADE
- HIRE
- NAME
- ORGANIZ
- PLACE
- Page1
- R75
- R76
- R77
- R78
- R79
- R80
- R81
- R82
Completion follows the printed sequence of blocks from the top of the page downward. The heading area takes the identifying particulars — name, identification number, organisation, date of preparation. Retrieval of the record from a file depends on these entries, and they are therefore filled first.
Interactive fields are filled by typing into them. Movement between fields is by tab, following the order established when the form was constructed, which usually tracks the page layout. Check boxes and radio groups are set by clicking, and exclusive groups permit one selection at a time. A one-line field has no wrap: text beyond its width prints truncated even when the screen shows it. Overlong content is placed in remarks or on a continuation, not forced into the field.
Signature comes at the end, applied in ink or by an accepted electronic method. Until it is applied the document is a draft. Additional signatures — reviewer, approver, witness — are taken in printed block order, each dated when signed rather than when the form was drafted. The commonest error is a mandatory field left blank; where nothing applies, the entry is marked accordingly instead of being skipped. Transposed identification digits, day and month reversed in dates, and carried-over data from a reused working copy account for most of the remainder.
Where personal information is gathered, the form carries a Privacy Act statement giving the collection authority, the purpose, the routine uses, and the mandatory or voluntary character of the disclosure. It is read before entries are made rather than afterwards. A completed copy holds personal data and is stored and transmitted under the corresponding safeguards.
Once completed, the form goes where the governing authority directs: to the designated office, along the unit administrative channel, or into the personal file. The preparer retains a copy. The length of retention and the manner of filing are set by the records schedule for the series, not by local arrangement.
Companion forms are traced by series and number. Within the DA series, documents sharing a proponent or a governing directive are frequently required together, and a form cited on the face of another is generally submitted alongside it. Continuation sheets, covers, and transmittal forms are part of that set and are assembled in advance of submission.
An edition stands until the proponent issues a revision. The printed edition date identifies the version, and a copy held locally is checked against the edition now in force before reuse. Prior executions under a superseded edition are not reopened for that reason.
The documents on this page are reproductions of published Department of the Army forms, offered for download. This is an independent site with no connection to the Department of the Army and no authority to issue forms. Nothing stated is legal advice, and no assurance is given regarding acceptance by any office. Doubts about a specific entry, requirement, or eligibility are resolved by the proponent or by the servicing administrative office.
Questions and answers
- What is DA Form 5328?
- BONA FIDE DEPENDENT DECLARATION (CIVILIAN)
- Which edition is current?
- 02/01/2009
- Who is responsible for this form?
- G-1
- In which formats can it be downloaded?
- PDF, XFDL, PDF
Publisher notes
- 42-ITEM ONLY PRODUCED IN ELECTRONIC MEDIA