Office of the Staff Judge Advocate Site

Delivery Day and Your Claim

Published by the Claims Division, Office of the Staff Judge Advocate Its delivery day and you are excited about getting your property. Let’s go over a few things you should do to get ready for receiving your household goods. Start off by making arrangements to have the children cared for off premises. Store all your valuables such as your purse, cameras, laptop computers and other easily removable items in the family car and park the car so that it doesn’t interfere with the parking and unloading of the moving truck.

Have your copy of the shipper’s inventory ready along with paper and pen. Assign duties to you and your spouse. One should position themselves at the moving truck to check off the item on the shipper’s inventory as it is taken off the truck and also noting the condition of the property as it is being unloaded. Use the paper and pen to record damages that you witness as it is being unloaded.

The other member of the family is working inside. She is directing the shippers where in the house to deliver the property and then observing the condition of the property as it is being unpacked or positioned. At this point the family member in the house is recording the shipper’s inventory number from the box that the damaged property is removed. On the paper record the inventory number, the name of the item, and the type of damage. At this point you can be brief as you will have time to add the details later. Also any time the shippers take a break this is the time for you to catch up on your inspections. Damaged and missing items noted at the actual time of delivery often result in a smoother investigation and processing of your claim.

Upon completion of the shippers delivery of your items they will present the sponsor with a “Notice of Loss or Damage” at time of delivery. This is when you would record from your notes everything that was either not delivered or you noticed was damaged upon arrival or during delivery. Taking notes and not relying on memory is the best way to make an accurate report. While recording your items keep in mind that only the front side of the form is for listing items at the time of delivery. If you have more items that can be listed on the front then use blank paper and number the pages and require the shipper to sign and print his name on each additional page.

After the shipper has left the premises continue to inspect your property. If you find additional missing or damaged property then tear out the carbon paper from the Notice of Loss or Damage and turn it over. The reverse side of the Notice of Loss or Damage is provided for listing items discovered by you after the shippers have departed. There are usually three copies of this form. This form is submitted in triplicate and they are not to be used as continuation pages. If you have more items than what will fit on this form you may use plain paper to continue listing your items. Just include the same identifying information at the top of the plain paper as required in the top 5 blocks of the original form.

The Transportation Offices are transitioning to a personal property moving system that includes new forms. Some shippers may provide you with the newer form that doesn’t require carbon paper or reversing the page. The new forms are on two separate sheets of paper. Just complete the new forms the same as the instructions above excluding the carbon paper and writing on the reverse.

After you have completed your inspection of your property bring the Notice of Loss or Damage with continuation pages if any to the military claims office on Fort Benning. You must bring the completed form to the military claims office within 70 days of the shipper delivering your property to you. Failure to meet this deadline will result in you not being compensated for the loss or damaged items not noted at the time of delivery.

Claims Division
706-545-1628