Georgia Free Recording of Military Discharges

Code section 15-6-72 has the clerk of superior court in each county record and index the discharge certificates of former members of the armed services living in the county, in books the county provides, and endorse a certificate of registry on each one. A veteran may also record Copy 4 of the DD Form 214, any DD-214 with a raised seal from the National Personnel Records Center, or National Archives Form 13038. No fee. Section 15-6-78(a) prohibits every clerk from charging a veteran a fee for recording the discharge, and section 15-6-77(i) lists the recording among the services for which no fee may be charged. Who can see it. For 50 years after filing, a recorded DD-214 is exempt from the Open Records Act, and it is a misdemeanour, with a fine of up to $5,000, to let anyone else inspect or copy it. On proper identification the following may examine it and get a copy or certified copy free: the veteran; the spouse or next of kin; a person named in a power of attorney the veteran signed; the veteran's administrator, executor, guardian or legal representative; and a lawyer for any of them. A court can order access. The records may not be used for commercial purposes. Why it matters. A certified copy from the clerk is what a family most often needs in a hurry, for a burial, a VA claim or a homestead exemption, and recording costs nothing. Several Georgia clerks warn that private companies charge veterans to file the DD-214 for them; the clerk does it free. Where this catalog lists a county, its entry gives that clerk's office and practice. The text is FindLaw's copy of the Code, current to March 28, 2024, because the State's official free code on LexisNexis would not open on October 24, 2026; every act of 2024, 2025 and 2026 whose first reader names Title 15 was read, and none amends sections 15-6-72 or 15-6-78.