Start here if you have been told to submit DD Form 2656-6. First, know what you are filling: Survivor Benefit Plan Election Change Certificate. The document is titled DD Form 2656-6, SBP Election Change Certificate, April 2009.
Your second step is the edition, not stated, listed as not stated. Your third is scope. Because the number carries a DD prefix, you use the same blank as every other military department and defense agency; no service-specific version exists for you to hunt down.
After that, turn to timing. The requirement comes from not stated; the form is maintained by not stated. Local implementing instructions fill in the dates, so check with the office that will receive your copy.
Last in this stage, choose your method: complete it on screen, or print the blank form and fill it out in pen. The sections below take each route step by step.
Now fill it in. Work from the top of the page downward, and do not jump ahead — the identifying block comes first, the substance of your entry second, the certification last. Later boxes often depend on what you put at the top.
Your first action is verification. Find the edition date on the form and match it against not stated. A mismatch means you are working from a superseded printing, and because DD forms change Department-wide rather than service by service, the office receiving it will notice.
For questions about a specific entry, check the form's own instructions, and if that does not settle it, open not stated. The directive controls where they differ.
Download the form
Step one is picking the format. You have PDF to choose from, across 2 pages, with approximately 58 fields to complete.
Check your software before choosing xfdl. That format belongs to IBM Lotus Forms, long used for Defense form distribution, and it needs the matching viewer. Get the viewer installed, then come back for the file.
All of it downloads free. When you are ready to work, do this: save the file locally, then open it in a full pdf application. Browsers often ignore field properties, and you can lose everything you typed.
What the form asks for
- 3. Date of retirement: 4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day.
- 4. Date of birth: 4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day.
- 5. mailing address: street, apartment number, city, state and zip code.
- 6. Telephone number, include area code.
- Section 2 - Current coverage. 7. My current coverage is: Press space bar to mark X in first box if no coverage, second box if spouse only, third box if child only, fourth box if spouse and child, fifth box if insurable interest, sixth box if former spouse, seventh box if former spouse and child, or eighth box if suspended coverage.
- Section 3 - Conditions that trigger eligibility to change coverage. 8. I am requesting a change in coverage based on: Mark X if marriage.
- Mark X if remarriage.
- If remarriage, X first box if resume existing coverage, second box if increase coverage, third box if not resume coverage, or fourth box if coverage for new spouse if current coverage is for former spouse.
- Mark X if acquiring a dependent child.
- Mark X if divorce.
- Mark X if death of spouse.
- Section 1 - Member Information. 1. Name: last, first, middle initial.
- 2. Social security number. Do not include dashes.
- Section 4 - Requested change to coverage. 9. Indicate new coverage election by marking X in first box if resume existing coverage, second box if spouse only, third box if spouse and child(ren), fourth box if child(ren) only, or fifth box if suspend coverage.
- Section 5 - Level of Coverage. 10. Indicate monthly amount coverage will be based on. X first box if full retired pay, second box if reduced amount of retired pay.
- Enter reduced monthly amount of retired pay (cannot be less than $300.00).
- Section 6 - Spouse and children information. 11.a. Spouse's name: last, first, middle initial.
- 11.b. Social security number.
- 11.c. Date of birth: 4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day.
- 12. Date of marriage: 4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day.
- 13. Dependent children. a. Name: last, first, middle initial, line 1 of 6.
- 13.b. Social security number.
- 13. c. Date of birth : 4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day.
- 13. d. Relationship. Son, daughter, stepson, etc. Indicate "FS" if from previous marriage.
Submit the completed form through the channel not stated or your local guidance specifies. Save a copy for yourself before it leaves your hands, whether that means a scan, a photograph or a duplicate file.
Should you need a related form, look it up by its number. The DD sequence is Department-wide, which makes your search simple: no service qualifier, no branch-specific variant to track down.
Watch out for one trap here. If your instructions cite a DA form as well, do not assume the numbers are connected. DA numbering belongs to the Army alone; DD numbering belongs to the Department and is administered by not stated or another Department office. The same number in each system means two unrelated forms, so read the prefix before you download.
Come back and check the edition next time you need this form. Editions change when the prescribing directive is reissued, when the information collected changes, or when the required notice language is updated, and none of those events reaches you directly. Verifying not stated at the moment you download is the whole defence.
One thing this page does not do: tell you whether your submission will be accepted. We publish the document and explain how to complete it, and that is where our role ends. Nothing here is legal advice. Take questions about eligibility, applicability or procedure to not stated, to your servicing personnel office, or to the office named in not stated.
Questions and answers
- What is DD Form 2656-6?
- DD Form 2656-6, SBP Election Change Certificate, April 2009
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?