Default Judgment Checklist: A Practical Checklist

Summary. This checklist turns federal default practice into phased, check-off tasks for both sides of the case. The plaintiff's phases run from confirming service and computing the response date through the request for entry of default, the servicemember and protected-party checks, the choice between a clerk's judgment and a court judgment, the damages record, the Rule 55(b)(2) motion, and the proposed judgment and enforcement. The defendant's phases run from day-one triage through motions to extend time, to set aside an entry of default, and to vacate a default judgment under Rule 60(b)(1), (4), and (6), along with stays of enforcement and stipulations. Each item links the governing rule, statute, or case and adds a short practical note. Red-flag boxes, a deadlines table, a short worked example, and a list of common failure points close the checklist.

How to use this checklist

Default practice punishes skipped steps. A plaintiff who skips the service review gets a judgment that can be vacated years later; a defendant who skips the phone call to opposing counsel spends thousands of dollars on a motion that a one-page stipulation would have mooted. This checklist is built to prevent both.

• Plaintiffs work Phases 1 through 6 in order. Do not start Phase 5 until Phases 1 to 3 are complete.
• Defendants start with Phase 7 (triage), then go to the phase that matches the posture: Phase 8 if default has not been entered, Phase 9 if it has, Phase 10 if judgment has been entered. Phases 11 and 12 (stays and stipulations) apply at every stage.
• Each item names the governing authority. Where a note says "local rule," check the district's local rules and the assigned judge's standing orders, which frequently add forms, page limits, or notice requirements.
• Red-flag boxes mark the issues most likely to make a judgment void or a motion fail.

The doctrine behind the items is in Default and Default Judgment in Federal Court: Rules 55 and 60 and the Cost of Ignoring a Lawsuit. The narrative walk-through for each side, with timing and cost, is in Obtaining or Setting Aside a Default Judgment: A Practical Guide. Fill-in templates for each filing are in the Default Judgment Toolkit: Entry Requests, Damages Declarations, and Motions to Vacate.

Phase 1 (plaintiff): Confirm service and the response date

• Pull the proof of service and read it against the rule. Individuals: Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(e). Entities: Rule 4(h). Foreign parties: Rule 4(f). Note who received the papers, their relationship to the defendant, and the address. Note: "Authorized to accept" on a return is a conclusion. Ask the server what the recipient said and did, and write it down now.
• Confirm service occurred within 90 days of filing under Rule 4(m), or that the court extended the period.
• If service was by state-law method, identify the state rule and confirm each element (mailing requirements, affidavit of due diligence for substituted service, Secretary of State follow-up mailings).
• If the defendant is abroad, confirm compliance with the Hague Service Convention where it applies, as Volkswagenwerk Aktiengesellschaft v. Schlunk, 486 U.S. 694 (1988) requires, and with Water Splash, Inc. v. Menon, 581 U.S. 271 (2017) if service was by mail. If service was by email or another court-ordered method, confirm you have a Rule 4(f)(3) order, as in Rio Properties, Inc. v. Rio International Interlink, 284 F.3d 1007 (9th Cir. 2002).
• Confirm the proof of service is filed under Rule 4(l). An unfiled proof does not invalidate service, but the clerk will not enter default without it.
• Compute the response date under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(a) and Fed. R. Civ. P. 6(a): 21 days after service; 60 days after a waiver request was sent (90 if sent abroad); 60 days for the United States; 60 days for a foreign state under 28 U.S.C. § 1608(d); the Rule 81(c)(2) periods in a removed case.
• Check for any stipulated or court-ordered extension, including informal ones in email.
• Check the docket for any filing by the defendant, including letters, pro se submissions, and notices of appearance.
• Check whether any co-defendant is defending. If so, flag Frow for Phase 5.

Red flag: service you would not want to defend. If the return describes abode service at an address the defendant may have left, service on a front-desk employee of a corporation, or email service without an order, re-serve before requesting default. A judgment on invalid service is void under Rule 60(b)(4), and Peralta v. Heights Medical Center, Inc., 485 U.S. 80 (1988) excuses the defendant from showing any defense. For methods that hold up, see Service of Process: Domestic and International Methods That Work.

Phase 2 (plaintiff): Request entry of default

• Send a pre-default notice letter to defense counsel if known, and to the defendant at every known address, stating the response date and the date you will request default. Note: Not required by Rule 55(a), but expected by many judges and fatal to a later "we didn't know" argument.
• Wait for the date in your letter, and confirm again that nothing has been filed.
• Prepare the request for entry of default using the district's form if there is one.
• Prepare the supporting declaration under 28 U.S.C. § 1746: date and method of service (with docket cite), response date and governing rule, no answer or Rule 12 motion filed or served, no extension in effect.
• State the defendant's capacity: individual, entity, minor, incompetent person, government, or foreign state.
• File under Fed. R. Civ. P. 55(a) and serve a copy on the defendant even though Fed. R. Civ. P. 5(a)(2) does not require service on a party who never appeared.
• Calendar a follow-up to confirm the clerk's entry within a week.
• If you amend the complaint after default, serve the amended pleading under Rule 4 if it asserts a new claim, as Rule 5(a)(2) requires, and recompute the response date.

Phase 3 (plaintiff): Servicemember and protected-party checks

• For each individual defendant, run a status search on the Defense Manpower Data Center's SCRA website with name and date of birth or Social Security number. Save the certificate with the date run.
• Prepare the non-military declaration required by the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, 50 U.S.C. § 3931(b)(1): either that the defendant is not in military service, with supporting facts, or that you cannot determine status, with the steps taken. Note: Run the search within 30 days before filing the default judgment motion. Re-run it if the motion is delayed.
• If the defendant is in military service, request appointment of counsel for the servicemember before judgment, and expect a stay of at least 90 days if the court finds a defense may exist that cannot be presented without the defendant, or that counsel cannot reach the defendant.
• For entity defendants, state that the defendant is an entity and the Act does not apply.
• Confirm the defendant is not a minor or incompetent person. If it is, no clerk's judgment is available, and a court judgment requires a general guardian, conservator, or similar fiduciary who has appeared (Rule 55(b)(2)).
• If the defendant is the United States, an agency, or an officer, plan to establish the claim "by evidence that satisfies the court" under Rule 55(d).
• If the defendant is a foreign state, agency, or instrumentality, plan for the evidentiary showing under 28 U.S.C. § 1608(e), confirm strict service under § 1608(a) or (b) (see Republic of Sudan v. Harrison, 587 U.S. 1 (2019)), and identify the immunity exception under 28 U.S.C. § 1605.

Red flag: the boilerplate SCRA line. "On information and belief, defendant is not in the military" without a search is not the factual showing § 3931(b)(1) requires. A knowingly false affidavit is a crime, and a default judgment against a servicemember entered without the Act's protections can be reopened under § 3931(g). Background is in Military Legal Issues: The UCMJ, Servicemember Protections, and Employment Rights.

Phase 4 (plaintiff): Clerk's judgment, only for a true sum certain

• Confirm every Rule 55(b)(1) element: a claim for a sum certain or a sum that can be made certain by computation; an affidavit showing the amount due; a defendant defaulted for not appearing; a defendant who is neither a minor nor an incompetent person.
• Check the local rules. Many districts route all default judgment requests to the judge.
• Exclude anything requiring judgment: attorney's fees requiring a reasonableness finding, interest at a disputed or unstated rate, unliquidated damages, injunctions.
• Prepare the affidavit of amount due with the instrument (note, invoice, account statement), payments and credits, and the computation.
• Attach the SCRA declaration (Phase 3).
• Attach a bill of costs limited to items taxable under 28 U.S.C. § 1920.
• Confirm no co-defendant issue makes a judgment against one defendant non-final; a judgment against fewer than all parties requires a Rule 54(b) determination to be final.

Phase 5 (plaintiff): Court judgment under Rule 55(b)(2)

Jurisdiction and service

• Establish subject-matter jurisdiction with facts (citizenship of each party for diversity; the federal claim for federal question).
• Establish personal jurisdiction with facts: the defendant's forum contacts or consent. Courts in the Ninth Circuit must check, under In re Tuli, 172 F.3d 707 (9th Cir. 1999); others may, under Sinoying Logistics Pte Ltd. v. Yi Da Xin Trading Corp., 619 F.3d 207 (2d Cir. 2010). For online sellers, see NBA Properties, Inc. v. HANWJH, 46 F.4th 614 (7th Cir. 2022) and Personal Jurisdiction Over Online and Foreign Defendants: From Zippo to Ford Motor.
• Summarize service with docket citations to the proof and any service order.

Liability

• List each element of each claim and cite the complaint paragraphs that allege facts satisfying it. Only well-pleaded facts are admitted, under Nishimatsu Construction Co. v. Houston National Bank, 515 F.2d 1200 (5th Cir. 1975).
• Test the complaint against Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009). The Eleventh Circuit treats the "sufficient basis" standard as akin to surviving a motion to dismiss, in Surtain v. Hamlin Terrace Foundation, 789 F.3d 1239 (11th Cir. 2015). If it falls short, amend and re-serve; see Amending Pleadings Under Rule 15: Leave to Amend, Relation Back, and the Scheduling Order Trap.
• Address the circuit's discretionary factors. In the Ninth Circuit, walk through all seven Eitel v. McCool, 782 F.2d 1470 (9th Cir. 1986) factors.
• Address multiple defendants. If co-defendants are defending, explain why judgment now creates no risk of inconsistency under Frow v. De La Vega, 82 U.S. 552 (1872), or ask the court to defer judgment.

Damages and relief

• Map each requested item to the complaint's demand. Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(c): a default judgment must not differ in kind from, or exceed in amount, what was demanded.
• Prepare the business-witness damages declaration authenticating records under Fed. R. Evid. 803(6) and walking through the computation. Damages are not admitted by default; see Greyhound Exhibitgroup, Inc. v. E.L.U.L. Realty Corp., 973 F.2d 155 (2d Cir. 1992).
• Add a summary chart under Fed. R. Evid. 1006 for voluminous records, with the underlying records available.
• Compute prejudgment interest with the rate, its source, start dates, and a per diem figure.
• Prepare the fee declaration if a contract or statute shifts fees: time records, rates, lodestar under Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424 (1983). For Lanham Act fees, address the exceptional-case standard.
• For copyright statutory damages, confirm registration timing under 17 U.S.C. § 412, count works, and justify the amount within the 17 U.S.C. § 504(c) range. See Copyright Damages and Remedies: Statutory Damages, Profits, Injunctions, and Fees.
• For counterfeiting statutory damages, count marks and types of goods and justify the amount within the 15 U.S.C. § 1117(c) range.
• For an injunction, address the four eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C., 547 U.S. 388 (2006) factors and, for Lanham Act claims, the presumption of irreparable harm in 15 U.S.C. § 1116(a).

Notice and hearing

• If the defendant appeared in any way, serve written notice at least 7 days before the hearing (Rule 55(b)(2)). Treat informal contacts showing intent to defend as an appearance.
• Mail and email the motion to the defendant regardless, and file a certificate of service.
• Prepare for a prove-up or magistrate referral under 28 U.S.C. § 636(b): witnesses, originals, updated interest.

Red flag: asking for more than the complaint demanded. Courts strike or reduce relief beyond the pleading's demand under Rule 54(c), and an award outside the demand is a ready-made ground for vacatur. If the demand is too low, amend and serve the amended complaint before moving.

Phase 6 (plaintiff): Proposed judgment, entry, and enforcement

• Draft the proposed judgment as a separate document under Fed. R. Civ. P. 58.
• State each amount as a figure: principal, prejudgment interest through a stated date, fees, costs.
• Provide for post-judgment interest under 28 U.S.C. § 1961.
• Write the injunction in specific terms describing the acts restrained, without incorporating the complaint by reference, and identify the persons bound, as Fed. R. Civ. P. 65(d) requires. City of New York v. Mickalis Pawn Shop, LLC, 645 F.3d 114 (2d Cir. 2011) vacated default injunctions that failed this test.
• Include a Rule 54(b) determination if judgment is against fewer than all parties and you want it final.
• Serve the entered judgment on the defendant at every known address.
• Calendar the 30-day automatic stay under Fed. R. Civ. P. 62(a) and the 30-day appeal period under Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(1)(A).
• Begin post-judgment discovery and execution under Fed. R. Civ. P. 69 after the stay expires. See Collecting a Judgment: Discovery in Aid of Execution, Liens, Levies, and Garnishment.
• Register in other districts under 28 U.S.C. § 1963 after the appeal period runs, or earlier on a good-cause order.
• For foreign-state judgments, send the judgment as § 1608(e) requires and obtain the court order under 28 U.S.C. § 1610(c) before attachment or execution.
• Preserve the file: the process server's notes, the SCRA certificate, the notice letters, and every communication with the defendant. You will need them to oppose a Rule 60(b) motion.

Phase 7 (defendant): Day-one triage

• Pull the docket and identify the posture: deadline passed with no default; default entered; default judgment entered (and when).
• Identify the date and manner of service, the person served, and that person's role.
• Identify when anyone at the client first saw the papers, and what happened to them.
• Identify whether an insurer was or should be notified, and tender the claim immediately if not.
• Identify enforcement activity: garnishments, levies, registration in another district, judgment liens.
• Confirm the client is represented by counsel admitted in the court. An entity cannot appear without a lawyer, under Rowland v. California Men's Colony, 506 U.S. 194 (1993).
• Call plaintiff's counsel the same day. Propose a stipulation (Phase 12) and a standstill on enforcement.
• Calendar every clock: 28 days for Rule 59(e) and for tolling the appeal period with a Rule 60 motion; 30 days to appeal; one year from judgment for Rule 60(b)(1) to (3).

Red flag: the "we have a year" mindset. Rule 60(c)(1) requires every motion to be made "within a reasonable time," and the one-year limit for (b)(1) to (3) is an outer bound, not a safe harbor. Courts measure reasonableness from when the defendant learned of the judgment, and a defendant who waits months after learning of a default often loses on promptness alone.

Phase 8 (defendant): Deadline passed, no default entered

• Prepare the answer or Rule 12 motion now, complete and ready to file.
• Ask plaintiff's counsel to stipulate to a short extension nunc pro tunc, and file the stipulation.
• If no stipulation, move for leave to file out of time under Fed. R. Civ. P. 6(b)(1)(B) (excusable neglect), attaching the proposed answer and a short declaration.
• Address the Pioneer Investment Services Co. v. Brunswick Associates Ltd. Partnership, 507 U.S. 380 (1993) factors: prejudice, length of delay, reason, good faith.
• Preserve Rule 12(b)(2) to (5) defenses in the first response, or they may be waived under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(h)(1).

Phase 9 (defendant): Motion to set aside entry of default under Rule 55(c)

• Identify your circuit's test. Examples: Enron Oil Corp. v. Diakuhara, 10 F.3d 90 (2d Cir. 1993); Payne ex rel. Estate of Calzada v. Brake, 439 F.3d 198 (4th Cir. 2006); Lacy v. Sitel Corp., 227 F.3d 290 (5th Cir. 2000); Cracco v. Vitran Express, Inc., 559 F.3d 625 (7th Cir. 2009); TCI Group Life Insurance Plan v. Knoebber, 244 F.3d 691 (9th Cir. 2001).
• Prepare the circumstances declaration from the person with personal knowledge: who received the papers, when, what was done, why no response was filed, when the client learned of the default.
• Attach corroborating documents: forwarding emails, insurer correspondence, calendar entries, medical records if relevant (consider filing under seal).
• Prepare the meritorious-defense declaration with specific facts and key documents. A defense "good at law" suffices in the Sixth Circuit under Shepard Claims Service, Inc. v. William Darrah & Associates, 796 F.2d 190 (6th Cir. 1986); everywhere, conclusions are not enough.
• Attach the proposed answer (and any counterclaim). See Drafting an Answer and Affirmative Defenses: A Practical Guide.
• Address prejudice: no lost evidence, no unavailable witnesses, no dissipated assets.
• State the timeline of your response to show promptness.
• Offer conditions: fees for the default proceedings, an expedited answer date.
• Submit a proposed order.
• Comply with local meet-and-confer rules before filing.

Phase 10 (defendant): Motion to vacate a default judgment under Rule 60(b)

Choose and order the grounds

• Rule 60(b)(4), void judgment, if service, personal jurisdiction, or subject-matter jurisdiction was lacking, or due process notice failed. Under United Student Aid Funds, Inc. v. Espinosa, 559 U.S. 260 (2010), voidness is limited to jurisdictional error and due process violations depriving notice or an opportunity to be heard. No meritorious defense is required under Peralta. No fixed time limit; see Jackson v. FIE Corp., 302 F.3d 515 (5th Cir. 2002).
• Rule 60(b)(1), excusable neglect or mistake, within a reasonable time and no more than a year after entry. Apply Pioneer and your circuit's default factors; in the Ninth Circuit the same test governs Rule 55(c) and Rule 60(b)(1) in the default context, under United States v. Signed Personal Check No. 730 of Yubran S. Mesle, 615 F.3d 1085 (9th Cir. 2010). Judicial legal error is "mistake" under Kemp v. United States, 596 U.S. 528 (2022).
• Rule 60(b)(3), fraud or misconduct by the plaintiff (false return of service, false SCRA declaration), within the same one-year limit.
• Rule 60(b)(6), extraordinary circumstances, only if no other clause fits. See Klapprott v. United States, 335 U.S. 601 (1949) (granted) and Ackermann v. United States, 340 U.S. 193 (1950) (denied for a deliberate choice); BLOM Bank SAL v. Honickman, 605 U.S. 204 (2025) confirms the standard is not relaxed.

Build the record

• For voidness: declarations from the person allegedly served and anyone who can confirm the defendant's whereabouts; documents (leases, travel records, employment records); the process server's return and, through discovery if needed, notes and GPS data.
• Anticipate the burden. A defendant with actual notice attacking a facially valid return may bear the burden of proving the defect, by "strong and convincing evidence" in the Ninth Circuit under SEC v. Internet Solutions for Business Inc., 509 F.3d 1161 (9th Cir. 2007).
• For excusable neglect: the Phase 9 circumstances and meritorious-defense declarations, updated for the post-judgment period.
• Attach the proposed answer and a proposed order.
• File within 28 days of judgment if possible, so the motion tolls the appeal period under Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(4)(A)(vi).
• If the judgment was registered elsewhere, decide where to file: most courts allow a voidness challenge in the registering court but send other Rule 60(b) arguments to the rendering court.

Red flag: relabeling to dodge the clock. A motion that is really about mistake or neglect cannot be filed under Rule 60(b)(6) to escape the one-year limit. Courts recharacterize such motions and deny them as untimely. Post-judgment practice generally is covered in Filing or Opposing Post-Trial Motions Under Rules 50, 59, and 60: A Practical Guide.

Phase 11 (defendant): Stay enforcement

• Move for a stay pending the Rule 60(b) motion. The motion "does not affect the judgment's finality or suspend its operation" (Rule 60(c)(2)).
• Offer security under Fed. R. Civ. P. 62(b): a bond, or garnished funds held in the court registry or escrow.
• Notify the registering court and the levying officer of the pending motion if the judgment was registered under § 1963.
• Ask for return or escrow of garnished funds in the motion and proposed order.

Phase 12 (both sides): Stipulation to set aside

• Recite service and default dates.
• Provide that the entry of default (and any judgment) is set aside, subject to court approval.
• Set a firm answer date, typically 7 to 14 days after the order.
• Address service and jurisdiction defenses expressly: reserved or waived.
• Address fees and costs incurred in obtaining the default, with a cap or fixed sum.
• Address garnished or levied funds: release or escrow.
• Address any interim relief (for example, a stipulated injunction pending the case).
• Attach a proposed order and file promptly.

Deadlines table

Short worked example: Bellwether Analytics v. Nowak

Bellwether Analytics, Inc., a Denver software company, sues former contractor Tomasz Nowak in federal court for breach of a confidentiality agreement and misappropriation of trade secrets, seeking $240,000 and an injunction. A process server leaves the papers with "a resident adult" at an apartment address from Nowak's old contractor paperwork.

Plaintiff's checklist catches three problems. Phase 1: the return does not name the adult or describe the relationship, and a skip trace shows Nowak signed a new lease in another city six weeks before service. Bellwether re-serves him personally at the new address. Phase 3: the SCRA search returns a record of active-duty status with a Reserve component as of a date two months earlier. Bellwether's lawyer files a declaration disclosing the result and asks the court to appoint counsel. Phase 5: the complaint asked for "damages in an amount to be proven," not $240,000; Bellwether amends to plead the amount and its computation and serves the amended complaint under Rule 4, as Rule 5(a)(2) requires.

Defendant's checklist. Appointed counsel reaches Nowak, who was on orders. Counsel requests a 90-day stay under § 3931(d) and, when Nowak returns, files an answer with a meritorious defense supported by Nowak's declaration that the "trade secrets" were public open-source code he contributed to before his engagement. Default never ripens into judgment. Had Bellwether relied on the original service and a boilerplate SCRA line, it would have held a judgment that Nowak could reopen under § 3931(g) or attack as void under Rule 60(b)(4).

Common failure points

1. Requesting default on service the plaintiff would not want to defend at a hearing.
2. Treating the SCRA declaration as a formality.
3. Asking the clerk for judgment on amounts that are not a sum certain.
4. Moving for default judgment on a complaint that would not survive Rule 12(b)(6).
5. Requesting relief beyond the demand, in violation of Rule 54(c).
6. Damages supported by counsel's declaration rather than a witness with knowledge.
7. Ignoring co-defendants and Frow.
8. Defendants waiting to move until "everything" is gathered.
9. Defendants filing without a proposed answer or specific defense facts.
10. Relying on Rule 60(b)(6) to avoid the one-year limit.
11. Forgetting the stay motion while garnishment continues.
12. Missing the new answer date after relief is granted.

This document is general information, not legal advice for any particular situation. Confirm local rules and standing orders before filing.

Related Documents

Related Articles

• Default and Default Judgment in Federal Court: Rules 55 and 60 and the Cost of Ignoring a Lawsuit: the doctrine behind each item.
• Answering a Federal Complaint: Denials, Affirmative Defenses, Counterclaims, and Judgment on the Pleadings: the timely response that prevents default.
• Counterfeiting, Seizure Orders, and Schedule A Litigation: Fighting Fakes in Federal Court: default at scale in IP enforcement.
• Amending Pleadings Under Rule 15: Leave to Amend, Relation Back, and the Scheduling Order Trap: fixing the complaint before moving for judgment.
• Motions to Compel and Discovery Sanctions Under Rule 37: From Meet and Confer to Default Judgment: motions to compel and Rule 37 sanctions when discovery breaks down.

Related Guides

• Obtaining or Setting Aside a Default Judgment: A Practical Guide: the narrative walk-through for both sides.
• Service of Process: Domestic and International Methods That Work: valid service, the foundation of every default.
• Filing or Opposing Post-Trial Motions Under Rules 50, 59, and 60: A Practical Guide: Rule 60 motion practice.
• Defending a Debt Collection Lawsuit: A Practical Guide: avoiding and undoing consumer defaults.
• Bringing or Opposing a Motion to Compel Discovery: A Practical Guide: motions to compel and Rule 37 sanctions when discovery breaks down.

Related Checklists

• Answer and Affirmative Defenses Checklist: A Practical Checklist: the proposed answer.
• Post-Trial Motion Checklist: A Practical Checklist: post-judgment deadlines.
• Serving a Foreign Defendant Under the Hague Convention: A Practical Checklist: service abroad.
• Amended Pleading and Relation Back Checklist: A Practical Checklist: amending and re-serving before default judgment.
• Motion to Compel and Rule 37 Sanctions Checklist: A Practical Checklist: motions to compel and Rule 37 sanctions when discovery breaks down.

Related Toolkits

• Default Judgment Toolkit: Entry Requests, Damages Declarations, and Motions to Vacate: templates for each filing.
• Judgment Enforcement and Collections Toolkit: collecting the judgment.
• Military Legal Toolkit: UCMJ Defense, SCRA Protections, and USERRA Claims: SCRA forms and protections.
• Responsive Pleading Toolkit: Answer Templates, Affirmative Defense Libraries, and Counterclaim Outlines: answer templates.
• Discovery Enforcement Toolkit: Deficiency Letters, Meet-and-Confer Records, and Rule 37 Motions: motions to compel and Rule 37 sanctions when discovery breaks down.