Free Certified Copies of Public Records for a Veterans’ Benefit Claim

AS 40.25.121 is one sentence. When a copy of a public record is required by the Department of Military and Veterans' Affairs, the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development, or the United States Department of Veterans Affairs to determine a person's eligibility for benefits, the official custodian of the record must provide a certified copy without charge. Who may ask. The person applying for the benefit, someone acting on the applicant's behalf - a spouse, a family member, or an accredited representative or veteran service officer - or an authorized representative of the State department or of the VA. Which offices. Every custodian of a public record in Alaska. The public records chapter defines a public agency as any department, board, commission or other instrumentality of the State or of a municipality, including the University of Alaska and the Alaska Railroad Corporation (AS 40.25.220), so the rule reaches a borough or city clerk, an assessor, a police department, a school district and the State's own agencies alike. The Alaska Court System governs access to its records by its own court rules, so ask the clerk whether it waives the copy fee under the statute. Some boroughs restate it in their own codes; Sitka's General Code 1.20.050 copies the sentence word for word. What it covers in practice. Anything a claim needs as evidence that a public office holds: a property tax or assessment record for a property tax claim, a police or accident report for a service-connected injury, an employment record from a public employer, or a school record for a dependent's education claim. The copy is certified, which is what the VA and most State programs ask for. How to ask. Tell the office in writing that the copy is required for a VA or State veterans' benefit claim and cite AS 40.25.121; a letter from the VA or the Office of Veterans Affairs asking for the record, or a veteran service officer's request, makes the purpose plain. The statute does not open a closed record: a record that is confidential under AS 40.25.120(a), such as a medical record, a juvenile record or a vital record, still goes only to someone entitled to see it, and vital records follow their own law (AS 18.50). For birth, marriage, divorce and death certificates, ask through the Office of Veterans Affairs, which obtains them free for VA purposes. Read on October 16, 2026 from the Legislature's own statute database; FindLaw's copy, current as of January 1, 2025, prints the same text.