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Eight Valor Plates for Life — and They Do Not All Cost the Same

A permanent distinctive plate is issued for the Medal of Honor, Purple Heart, Legion of Valor membership, Distinguished Flying Cross, Silver Star, Bronze Star, Air Medal, or recognised former prisoner of war status. It is kept for life, and on the recipient's death the surviving spouse may retain it until remarriage. What it costs depends on which category you hold: the Medal of Honor, POW and Legion of Valor plates carry no registration fee and no ad valorem tax, a Purple Heart plate is free of the registration fee but not the ad valorem tax, and the remaining four pay the regular fees plus $25 a year for each plate.

Verified August 27, 2026

What this benefit is

A permanent distinctive plate is issued for the Medal of Honor, Purple Heart, Legion of Valor membership, Distinguished Flying Cross, Silver Star, Bronze Star, Air Medal, or recognised former prisoner of war status. It is kept for life, and on the recipient's death the surviving spouse may retain it until remarriage. What it costs depends on which category you hold: the Medal of Honor, POW and Legion of Valor plates carry no registration fee and no ad valorem tax, a Purple Heart plate is free of the registration fee but not the ad valorem tax, and the remaining four pay the regular fees plus $25 a year for each plate.

What it's worth: A permanent plate for life — free in some categories, $25 a year in others

  • The revenue department rule states that a distinctive permanent licence plate shall be issued to a resident of the state who falls into one of the qualifying categories.
  • Those categories are: a recipient of the Medal of Honor or the widow of a recipient of the Medal of Honor; a recipient of the Purple Heart Medal; a member of the Legion of Valor with positive proof of membership and the award of the Medal of Honor, the Army Distinguished Service Cross, the Navy Cross or the Air Force Cross; a recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross; a recipient of the Silver Star; a recipient of the Bronze Star; a recipient of the Air Medal; and a person who shows by satisfactory proof that they were a duly recognised former prisoner of war.
  • Ala. Code 32-6-254 extends recognised former prisoner of war status to a person captured while serving with an armed force formally allied with the United States, not only to one captured in United States service.
  • The categories are not treated alike on cost. A first plate for the Medal of Honor, a recognised former prisoner of war, or a Legion of Valor member is exempt from registration fees and from ad valorem taxes.
  • A first Purple Heart plate is exempt from the registration fees but not from ad valorem taxes.
  • Distinguished Flying Cross, Silver Star, Bronze Star and Air Medal plates pay the regular registration fees and taxes, plus an additional fee of $25 a year for each plate issued.
  • The rule states the plates are permanent in nature and are not reissued each year, and that a recipient is entitled to keep the plate for life.
  • It states further that upon the death of any recipient the surviving spouse shall be, where permitted by law, entitled to retain the distinctive permanent plate for the remainder of the spouse's lifetime or until his or her remarriage.
  • A surviving spouse who retains the plate does so at no fee and no tax — except that a Purple Heart surviving spouse pays the ad valorem tax on one vehicle, until remarriage.
  • Annual renewal decals are provided after payment, if required, of licence fees and taxes for the years during which a new plate is not issued.
  • A parallel and separate provision covers the Armed Forces Retired plate: a surviving spouse may retain that plate, on continued payment of the regular taxes and fees, for one private passenger vehicle owned by the surviving spouse, again for life or until remarriage.
  • Retired military for that plate means only non-disability retirees from active duty in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force or Coast Guard.
  • Proof for any of these categories is the DD Form 214 or other qualifying documentation; where that is unavailable, a certification of eligibility from the state veterans department is accepted instead.
  • Recertification of eligibility is required every five years where a permanent plate is issued and the design does not change.

Who is entitled to it

  • The plate runs to the recipient and, after death, to the surviving spouse.
  • Your home is in this state.
  • The remarriage condition does not stand in your way.
  • This condition only applies to a surviving spouse.
  • You have not remarried, so the benefit carries over to you.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

  1. 1Read the seven categories rather than assuming yours is missing. The Bronze Star and the Silver Star are on the list, and so is recognised former prisoner of war status, which needs no medal at all.
  2. 2If the discharge paperwork is gone, go to a veterans service office for a certification of eligibility. The rule accepts that certification in place of the DD214 once the office has seen other authoritative documentation.
  3. 3Surviving spouses: raise the retention clause explicitly. It is written into the rule, but it is not something a counter will offer you, and the alternative is surrendering a plate you were entitled to keep.
  4. 4Understand what remarriage does. It ends the retention. Nothing in the rule reinstates the plate if a later marriage ends, unlike some property tax reliefs elsewhere in this corpus.
  5. 5Keep paying the annual taxes and decal fees. Permanent means the plate is not reissued, not that the registration is free.
  6. 6Diary a five-year recertification even though the plate says permanent.
Form
Application at the licensing official, with the DD214 or a veterans department certification
File with
The judge of probate or licence plate issuing official in your county
Documents you will need
dd214
Periodic recertification
Confirmed at intervals rather than annually.
CorrectionThe Medal of Honor category names the widow of a recipient directly, before the general surviving-spouse clause is even reached. That is a drafting quirk worth knowing: a Medal of Honor widow has an independent entitlement written into the list, not merely a retention right derived from her husband's.
Worth knowingThe retention clause is qualified by the words "where permitted by law". The rule does not say what would take it away, and the underlying code sections were not reachable this session, so a surviving spouse denied on that phrase should ask which law is being relied on.

Sources

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.