You have arrived looking for DD Form 2656-7. Before you download, confirm this is the right document: Verification for Survivor Annuity. Full title: DD Form 2656-7, Verification for Survivor Annuity, April 2009.
Then look at the edition date: not stated, publisher status not stated. After that, ask whether the form covers your situation. It almost certainly does regardless of your branch — DD forms run Department-wide rather than through a single service.
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.
Before you download, pick your approach — editable file or printed page. What follows covers the formats first, then the entries, then what you do afterward.
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.
Check the edition before you type a word. The date appears on the face of the form; it should read not stated. When it does not, discard the file and take a fresh copy from this page. Department-level revisions replace the blank across all services simultaneously, which means an old printout can be out of step everywhere.
Fill every box as you come to it. If an item does not apply, enter N/A — an empty field looks like an oversight, and the form comes back to you. Watch the date fields especially: use the format the form specifies, not your habitual one.
Stop at the Privacy Act Statement and read it through. You will find the authority for the collection, the principal purpose, the routine uses, and whether disclosure is voluntary or mandatory. Read it now, while you still have the choice of what to disclose.
Sign last, and sign properly. On paper that means ink in the signature block. Electronically it means a digital signature, usually applied with your Common Access Card in a reader that supports it. Typing your name into the field does not sign anything. Then add the date beside your signature — an unsigned or undated form is the most common reason one comes back.
Run a final pass over the form. The errors that send it back are the same ones every time: old edition, gaps in required fields, unreadable handwriting on a scan, non-conforming dates, no signature or no date.
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
Begin by choosing a file. Available here: PDF. Plan for 2 pages and about 50 entries.
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
- 1.c. Date of birth (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day, no separators).
- 1.d. Date of death (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day).
- 1.e. Branch of service.
- 1.f. Rank/rate.
- 2. Claimant verification. a. Claimant's name (last, first, middle initial).
- 2.b. Claimant's social security number.
- 2.c. Date of birth (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day).
- 2.d. Telephone (include area code).
- 2.e. Citizen of (country).
- 2.f. If you are a nonresident alien, press space bar to mark X in this box and see note.
- 2.g. Type of benefit claimed. Mark X in first box if SBP, second box if RCSBP or third box if RSFPP.
- 2.h. Relationship to decedent. X first box if spouse, second box if child, third box if former spouse, or fourth box if insurable interest.
- 2.i. Correspondence address (street, apartment number, city, state, and zip code).
- 3. This section applies to spouse applicants only. .a. I certify that I was legally married to the member on the date of death: X first box if yes, second box if no.
- 3.a.(1) If yes, please verify date of marriage to member. If blank or incorrect, please provide correct marriage date.
- 3.a.(2) If No, please provide the date of divorce (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day).
- 3.b. Are there children under age 23 or incapacitated of the deceased member? X first box if yes, second box if no.
- 3.b.(1) If yes: name of first child (last, first, middle initial).
- 3.b.(2) Social security number.
- 3.b.(3) Date of birth (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day).
- 3.b.(1) Name of second child.
- 3.b.(2) Social security number.
- 3.b.(3) Date of birth.
- 3.b.(1) Name of third child.
With the form finished, route it to the office named in not stated or in your organization's own instruction. Keep a copy first. People rarely regret having one and frequently regret not having one.
If the form points you to another document, you can find it by number alone. DD numbering runs across the whole Department, so you do not need to work out which service issued it — one number, one form, everywhere.
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.
Do not archive this file and reuse it in a year. Forms are reissued as directives are revised, as data requirements shift, and as statutory notice text is amended. Your protection is simple: download fresh each time and confirm the edition date.
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 2656-7?
- DD Form 2656-7, Verification for Survivor Annuity, 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?