Greene County Recorder of Deeds: Free Recording of Military Discharges

The Recorder of Deeds, 940 N. Boonville Avenue, Springfield, files and maintains military discharges among its records. To get a copy, use its "Military Discharge Request", the Recorders Association of Missouri form under section 59.480, with the regulations that go with it: one record per form; the veteran's name and the county where it is filed, with a date of birth, Social Security number or branch and dates of service; the number of certified and uncertified copies; and which authorised party is asking (the veteran, a relative, an attorney or attorney in fact, a government agency or court, a funeral director or other). The requester signs before a notary, and the Recorder may ask for proof of identity. Request forms are not public records and are kept for five years. What the page leaves out. Mo. Rev. Stat. 59.480 requires every recorder to accept a discharge for filing without any fee, and bars a charge for a certified or uncertified copy or for notarising the request; the images are closed to the public for 75 years. See the Missouri entry. The Recorder's page and its fee notice for Senate Bill 938 do not mention that discharges are free, and the posted form is a 2003 scan whose notary block still reads "in the year 200___".