Austin County Clerk: Military Discharges Filed and Certified Free

The office. Diane Day, Austin County Clerk, 265 N. Chesley Street, Suite 7, Bellville, Texas 77418; (979) 227-3144, fax 979-865-0336; [email protected]. Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The page announces the office closed on Wednesday, November 11, 2026, "in honor of Veteran's Day". Copy requests go to the Public Records Department, [email protected]. From December 4, 2025 anyone filing in person in the real property records must show a photo ID. The Clerk's online index covers birth, death, marriage and military discharge records. The fee lines. The Clerk's vital fees effective January 1, 2024 list "Military Discharge": filing fee, Local Government Code 192.002(b), no charge; certified copies, "Local Government Code 603.003(a)", no charge (the free copy is in Government Code 603.003; see the Texas entry). The official public records fee schedule of January 2025 quotes Business and Commerce Code 71.155(a-1): "The County Clerk may waive all fees under Subsection (a) for registrant who is a military veteran" - the State filing fee on an assumed name certificate; ask the Clerk for it when filing. Who may have a copy. The county's Veterans page still says a recorded DD-214 "would become a public record". Since September 1, 2003 Government Code 552.140 has kept a recorded discharge confidential for 75 years and released it only to the veteran, the veteran's guardian, spouse, child or parent (or, with none living, the nearest living relative), the estate's personal representative, a person named in a power of attorney, a governmental body or the funeral home assisting with the burial.