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Review Process of Creditor's Application for Involuntary Allotment of Military Member's Pay

Upon receipt of a properly completed application package, DFAS will perform an initial legal review. In this initial review, we will examine the application form to ensure it has been filled out properly and that the information is consistent with the information contained in the accompanying judgment.

The judgment must award a specific amount and state that the amount is to be paid by the military member. Post-judgment interest is payable under the regulation but it must be awarded in the judgment. Creditors who submit judgments from jurisdictions where post-judgment interest is statutory should submit copies of the statute that authorizes the interest along with their application.

Additionally during the initial review, we will determine whether the procedural requirements of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) codified as 50 U.S.C. §§ 3901-4043 (for judgments issued after December 19, 2003) and of the Soldiers’ And Sailors’ Civil Relief Act of 1940, (for judgments issued before December 19, 2003) as amended (50 U.S.C. App. Sec. 501-591) were complied with.

We will forward applications that pass the initial legal review along with a Commander's Notification and Member Response Form (DD 2654) to the member's commander. The application is due back to us 90 days from the date it is mailed to the commander. If no response is received by the due date, we will process the case for payment on the 15th calendar day after the response was due.

Within five days of receiving the package, the commander must notify the member of the action and inform the member of the right to either consent or contest the involuntary allotment. The member then has 15 days to provide a response to the member's commander. However, the commander may extend the member's time to respond for good cause. Under normal circumstances, these extensions will not exceed 30 days. However, during times of deployment, war, national emergency, assignment outside the United States, hospitalization, or other similar situations that prevent the member from obtaining necessary evidence or from responding in a timely manner, extensions exceeding 30 days may be granted.

If the member consents to the involuntary allotment, he or she will complete and return the DD Form 2654 to us indicating his or her consent. Within 30 days of our receipt of the DD Form 2654, we will start payments.

A member may choose to contest the involuntary allotment for a number of reasons. See the link below for a description of the process followed if the member contests the allotment.

Page updated Oct. 11, 2018.