Ohio County Recorders: Free Discharge Recording and the Ohio Veterans ID Card

Recording. On request and presentation of the discharge, the county recorder must record it, with no fee, and the record or a certified copy is evidence wherever the original would be (Revised Code 317.24(B)(1)). The recorder must also give one certified copy free on request (317.27). Privacy. A recorded discharge is not a public record for 75 years after recording. Only an authorized party may see or copy the full record: the veteran, a certified county veterans service officer, the veteran's agent under a power of attorney, a person a court authorizes, and after the veteran's death the executor, an heir or the funeral director. Anyone else gets a copy redacted to name, rank, date of birth, date and type of discharge. On a notarized application the recorder must, without fee, expunge the whole record, the separation code or separation program number, or the Social Security number, from the discharge and from any recorded DD-215, DD-220 or NGB-22 (317.24(C)). The ID card. A board of county commissioners may let the recorder or the veterans service office issue an Ohio veterans identification card to a veteran who has recorded the discharge and shows two forms of identification, one with a photograph (317.241). The county may charge up to $2. The card lasts ten years. Where the office can check the federal service verification system, it must confirm the discharge is not dishonorable. Not every county has adopted the card, so ask the recorder.