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DD Form 137-5 — a Department of Defense document. Title of record: DD Form 137-5, Dependency Statement - Incapacitated Child Over Age 21. Stated purpose: Dependency Statement - Incapacitated Child Over Age 21 ( Instructions ). Edition date not stated; status not stated.
Issued under not stated, with not stated as proponent. A DD number marks a Department-wide instrument: the same blank form serves every military department and the defense agencies, rather than one service alone.
Common users: service members regardless of branch, Defense civilian staff, and the offices that file, verify or retain the finished document.
When the form is filed is a matter of not stated and local instruction. The description here covers the document itself and how to obtain a copy.
Formats offered: PDF. Length: 5 pages. Fillable field count: roughly 200.
Pdf serves as the base format. In the fillable variant, each box is an interactive field that holds typed text inside the document. In the flat printable variant, no fields exist — the page prints as a blank to be completed by hand. Typed entries survive transmission; handwriting does not always survive scanning.
The xfdl release corresponds to IBM Lotus Forms. This format carried Department-wide form distribution for years and opens only in IBM Lotus Forms Viewer or a compatible client, not in a pdf reader.
Free download applies to every format listed. Any current pdf reader opens the pdf files, though field behaviour is most reliable in a full desktop reader rather than a browser preview.
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).
- X if any other status or service.
- 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. Member's child. a. Name (last, first, middle initial).
- c. Date of birth. Four digit year, two digit month, two digit day.
- d. Relationship to member. X first box if legitimate child, second box if child born out of wedlock, third box if adopted child, or fourth box if stepchild.
The document is filled from the top down. Identification precedes substance, substance precedes certification. Fields lower on the page are commonly keyed to entries made above them.
Edition in use: not stated. Because DD forms are revised at Department level and distributed to all services at once, an obsolete printing may not match the fields an office expects. The date is printed on the form face.
Field-level instructions appear on the form itself and in not stated. The directive is the controlling text.
After completion, the copy goes to the office designated by not stated or by local procedure. Retention of a personal copy is ordinary practice and costs nothing.
Associated forms are traced by number within the series. Because the DD sequence is common to all military departments, no service qualifier is needed to identify a referenced form.
Some procedures pair a DD form with a service form. The two numbering systems are separate — service forms answer to a service proponent, DD forms to not stated or another Department office — and a matching number in each system means nothing.
Forms are reissued for several reasons: directive revision, changed data requirements, updated notice language. Confirming not stated at the moment of download covers the risk.
The material here is descriptive. Nothing on the page constitutes legal or procedural advice, and no statement here determines whether a submitted form will be accepted. Such questions go to not stated, a servicing administrative office, or the authority identified in not stated.
Questions and answers
- What is DD Form 137-5?
- DD Form 137-5, Dependency Statement - Incapacitated Child Over Age 21
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?