New York Free Recording of Discharge Papers with the County Clerk

Military Law section 250 lets a veteran record a certificate of honorable separation from, or of service in, the armed forces issued after April 6, 1917, in any one county, with the county clerk. The clerk must record it "without the payment of any fee". Once recorded, a certified copy is accepted in place of the original for any purpose in New York. Copies. The clerk must furnish a certified copy without charge to the veteran or to the veteran's parent, spouse, dependent or child. Privacy. A recorded certificate, and anything in it, may be disclosed only to the veteran, a parent, spouse, dependent or child, the representative of a deceased veteran's estate, or a public official acting in the course of the job, unless the veteran authorises it in writing. New York City. The section applies expressly to the counties within New York City, so each borough's County Clerk records discharges. What the statute does not require. It sets no residence period; it says the certificate "may be recorded in any one county". A county clerk's page that asks for six months of residence is borrowing the rule for the veteran's peddler licence in General Business Law 32.