DD Form 2788 Child Annuitant's School Certification

How to Fill Out DD Form 2788?

1. Section I, Identification Information. This part requires the full name and SSN of the service member participating in the Survival Benefit Plan or Reserve Component Survivor Benefit Plan and the name of their annuitant that receives the payments. A legal representative is required if the annuitant is underage.

2. Section II, Student's Certification. The second part is completed by the child-annuitant.

   • Boxes 6 and 7 require the annuitant's marital status and date of birth. If the annuitant is married, a copy of the marriage certificate must be connected to the DD 2788;
   • Box 8 requires specifying whether the annuitant attends school full-time;
   • Box 9 requires information about the school: its name, address, and phone number;
   • High school students should indicate the expected graduation date in Box 10;
   • Box 11 is completed by annuitants attending any institution other than a high school;
   • Annuitants that are not full-time students or are on semester break may skip directly to Box 12, which requires the name of the last school attended, along with its address and phone number;
   • Box 13 is for previous high school graduates and requires the date of graduating;
   • The beginning and end dates of the semester or term are specified in Box 14;
   • Box 15 is completed if the annuitant is going to attend school full-time during the next 150 days. If the answer was negative, then the annuitant has to skip Boxes 16 and 17 blanks and proceed to Boxes 18 and 19.

The second page of the form is reserved for the officials of the school the annuitant is attending. The completed certification form has to be returned to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, U.S. Military Annuitant Pay, 8899 E 56th Street, Indianapolis, Indiana 46249-1300.