How to Fill Out the Virginia Search Warrant Affidavit (Form DC-338)

Virginia’s Form DC-338, the Affidavit for Search Warrant, is the sworn statement a law enforcement officer completes to ask a judge or magistrate for authority to search a place, person, or thing. The form is a free download from the Virginia Judicial System’s court forms page and tracks the requirements of Virginia Code § 19.2-54.¹ You fill out seven numbered sections across two pages, present the completed form to a judicial officer under oath, and receive a signed warrant if the officer finds probable cause.

What Each Section of DC-338 Asks For

Page one captures the identifying information. Page two is where you lay out probable cause and swear to the truth of everything on the form.

Section 1 — Offense or person to be arrested. Check one box to indicate whether the search relates to a criminal offense or to a person for whom an arrest warrant has already issued. For an offense, describe the crime in plain terms. For a person, identify them.

Section 2 — Place, person, or thing to be searched. Describe the location with enough specificity that any officer could find it. A house needs a street address, city, county, and any distinguishing features. A vehicle needs make, model, color, and license plate. A checkbox on this line asks whether the location is a “place of abode,” which later controls when the warrant may be executed.

Section 3 — Items or persons sought. List everything you expect to find. Name the type of contraband, serial numbers of stolen property, or identifying details of a person. A separate checkbox applies when the items are electronic records held by a foreign corporation doing business in Virginia; if that box is checked, you need to include additional facts supporting that belief.

The bottom of page one takes the applicant’s name, title, and address.

Section 4 — Material facts establishing probable cause. This is the open narrative field. More on how to write it below.

Section 5 — Connection to the offense. Check whether the items sought constitute evidence of the crime or identify the person to be arrested.

Section 6 — Nighttime execution. If the search targets a residence and you want to execute it before 8:00 a.m. or after 5:00 p.m., explain the good cause in writing here. You also need to document your efforts to find a judge before approaching a magistrate for nighttime authority, or explain why those efforts were not made.

Section 7 — Source of your knowledge. Check whether the facts come from your personal knowledge, from information received from others, or both. If any information came from a third party, explain why that person is credible or how you independently verified what they said.

The final block is the oath. You sign, and the judicial officer records the date and time and signs to confirm the oath was administered.¹

Writing the Probable Cause Narrative

Section 4 is where most affidavits succeed or fail. Virginia Code § 19.2-54 requires you to “allege briefly material facts constituting the probable cause” and to tie those facts to the specific offense named in Section 1.² The judicial officer decides probable cause based only on what is written. Anything you add out loud during the meeting does not count. If the written facts fall short, the official instructions tell the judge to hand the affidavit back and say what is missing.³

A strong narrative does three things. It establishes a timeline: when the suspected crime occurred, when observations were made, when tips came in. Stale information loses warrants quickly, and a months-old tip with no recent corroboration rarely satisfies a judge. It draws a direct line between the items in Section 3 and the location in Section 2. Writing that the suspect was seen carrying a firearm is not enough if the affidavit never explains why the firearm is expected at the address being searched. And it addresses the reliability of every source. If you witnessed something yourself, say so. If a confidential informant provided the tip, describe the informant’s track record or how the information was independently confirmed.

Vague or overbroad descriptions create problems later. If a court finds that the affidavit failed to connect the evidence to the location, or that the descriptions were so general they amounted to a prohibited “general search warrant,” any evidence seized can be suppressed.²

Swearing to the Affidavit and Getting the Warrant

You present the completed affidavit to a judge, magistrate, or other official authorized to issue criminal warrants. You take an oath that the statements are true and sign the form in the officer’s presence. The officer reads the affidavit and decides whether the facts amount to probable cause. If they do, the officer signs the search warrant, which by statute must name you, describe the place to be searched, describe the items or persons sought, and command the officer to search the location and seize what is found.⁴

If the officer is not satisfied, the affidavit comes back unsigned. You can revise and resubmit, but any additional facts must go in writing on the affidavit itself. Oral supplements do not count toward the probable cause determination.³

Filing the Affidavit With the Circuit Court Clerk

After issuing the warrant, the judicial officer must certify the affidavit and deliver it to the clerk of the circuit court in the county or city where the search takes place. The statute gives seven days from the date the warrant was issued, not 24 hours as is sometimes assumed.² Delivery can happen in person, by certified mail with return receipt requested, by fax, or through electronic filing under Virginia’s Uniform Electronic Transactions Act. Page one of DC-338 has checkboxes for each delivery method so the method is documented on the face of the form.¹

Missing the seven-day window does not automatically destroy the case. Section 19.2-54 provides a 30-day grace period. If the affidavit is filed before 30 days have passed, the search remains valid, though evidence obtained under the warrant is not admissible until a reasonable time after the late filing. If 30 days expire with no filing at all, the search is invalidated.⁵

Execution Window and the Daytime Rule

A Virginia search warrant must be executed within 15 days of issuance. Any warrant not executed in that window must be returned to the issuing officer and voided.⁴ After the search, the executing officer prepares an inventory of everything seized and presents it to a court with jurisdiction over the offense.

The place-of-abode checkbox in Section 2 matters at execution time. When the warrant targets a residence, the initial entry must happen between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. unless you obtained advance nighttime authorization through Section 6. The statute prefers a judge for that authorization; you must make reasonable efforts to find one before turning to a magistrate, unless the warrant itself needs to be issued after 5:00 p.m. Evidence seized from a residential search executed in violation of this restriction is inadmissible.⁴

When the Affidavit Becomes Public

Once the clerk receives the affidavit, it is a permanent court record. Under Section 19.2-54, affidavits open to public inspection after the earlier of two events: the warrant is executed, or 15 days pass from the date the warrant was issued.² Even if the warrant is never executed, the affidavit becomes publicly viewable after two weeks. Anything you write in Section 4, including informant descriptions and investigative detail, will likely be a public record. Members of the public can review these records at the circuit court clerk’s office during regular business hours; per-page copy fees vary by locality.

Temporary sealing is available, but it is not something the affiant handles. The Commonwealth’s attorney must apply to the court and show good cause in an ex parte hearing, and the resulting order must specify a time period after which the documents revert to public status.²

1
Virginia Judicial System. Virginia District Court Form DC-338 – Affidavit for Search Warrant
2
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 19.2-54 – Affidavit Preliminary to Issuance of Search Warrant; General Search Warrant Prohibited; Effect of Failure to File Affidavit
3
Supreme Court of Virginia. Virginia Court Forms – Affidavit for Search Warrant
4
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 19.2-56 – To Whom Search Warrant Directed; What It Shall Command
5
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code Title 19.2 – Criminal Procedure, Chapter 5 – Search Warrants