Interactive Form - SCRA Letter from Commanding Officer

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Interactive Form - SCRA Letter from Commanding Officer

You and your family have certain legal protections when you are called into active duty military service. These laws apply to members of the Armed Forces, Reserves, National Guard and other uniformed services.
A computer generated image of a series of papers layered on top of each other. The top paper is a check list with red check-marks on it.

You and your family have certain legal protections when you are called into active duty military service. These laws apply to members of the Armed Forces, Reserves, National Guard and other uniformed services.

A law providing many of these protections is called the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA). This law helps protect members of the military and their families from financial and legal harm because of military service.

For example, if you are sued while on active duty, you can get a 90-day stay of the lawsuit. But you have to request this delay. To request either the original 90-day delay or an additional delay, you will need a "motion" and some supporting documents.

Do I qualify for this benefit?
Most members of the uniformed services on active duty are covered by this law. The conditions for a stay are found in 50 U.S.C. App. § 522 stating that an application for a stay must include:

  1. a letter or other communication with the facts about why your current military duty requirements materially affect your ability to appear in court AND the date when you think you will be available to appear; AND
  2. a letter or other communication from your commanding officer stating that your current military duty prevents your appearance and that military leave has not been authorized.

About This Resource
This is an easy-to-use interactive form. The program will create a letter and instructions to be used with your Motion for Stay of Proceedings.

The letter provides the required explanation from your Commanding Officer - that because of your military service you cannot go to court and you cannot take military leave.

A CO can refer to the sample form below to help with drafting a letter in support of your Motion to Stay Proceedings. Or you can use the Interactive Form Packet to draft a letter for your CO to review.

  • Interactive Form Packet is currently unavailable.
     
  • Sample Form is attached.
 
IMPORTANT NOTICE: You must have Microsoft Word or Word Viewer installed on your computer to use the interactive form packet. You can download Word Viewer for free here.

You must have Adobe Reader to view the sample form packet. You can download Adobe Reader for free here.
 
 
 

Resource Date: November 2015