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Free Recording of Your Discharge with the Circuit Court Clerk — and It Stays Confidential

The clerk of the circuit court where you live must record your discharge or DD-214 on presentation, free of charge. The recorded document is then closed to public inspection, with a short statutory list of people who may obtain a copy.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

What it's worth: No charge to record, and the record is closed to public inspection

The statute says the clerk "shall record, upon presentation, free of charge" — there is no fee to weigh against the benefit.
The value here is not money. It is having a retrievable certified copy in a public office that will not hand your service record to anyone who asks.

Who is entitled to it

You are the person discharged, so the clerk records it for you.
Family members appear in the statutory list of people who may obtain a copy.
Your home is in Virginia.

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

1Take the original discharge certificate or a properly authenticated copy to the clerk of the circuit court for the county or city where you live.
2Do not pay for this. The section requires the clerk to record it free of charge.
3Ask what the clerk needs to release a copy later, and record that answer somewhere your family can find it. The recorded document is confidential and restricted from public inspection.
4Know who may get a copy: you, your legal guardian or conservator, your executor or administrator or next of kin if you have died, an attorney or agent or representative you have authorised in writing, and government officials performing official duties.
5Genealogical researchers are on the access list only for deceased veterans, which is worth knowing if you are trying to trace a relative’s service.
6Do this before you need it. The point of the recording is that a certified copy exists locally on the day a benefit office asks for one.

Form: None — present the discharge itself
File with: The clerk of the circuit court of the county or city where you reside
Documents you will need: dd214
No renewal: Once granted it does not need renewing.

CorrectionThe neighbouring section number, § 17.1-266, is about services rendered in the Commonwealth’s cases and has nothing to do with discharges. If a clerk’s office cites it at you, the provision you want is § 17.1-265.

Worth knowingRecording is not a substitute for holding your own copy. It is a backup that a public office is obliged to keep and obliged not to publish.

Sources

authority · statuteVa. Code § 17.1-265 — recordation of evidence of discharge generally; confidentiality (the clerk of the circuit court of the county or city wherein a person discharged from the armed forces of the United States resides shall record, upon presentation, free of charge, the original or a properly authenticated copy; the recorded document is confidential and restricted from public inspection, with access limited to the veteran, a guardian or conservator, an executor or administrator or next of kin, an authorised attorney or agent or representative, government officials performing official duties, and genealogical researchers for deceased veterans)

Why only one source type: Clerks publish their own local instructions rather than a statewide operating page, and the Department of Veterans Services site refused retrieval this session, so the statutory text is the source.

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