(a)

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 8-13-118

  • Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in a perceivable form. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Service: means service as a general employee, a teacher, a state police officer, a wildlife officer, a firefighter, a police officer, a state judge, a county judge, an attorney general, a commissioner or a county official which is paid for by an employer, and also includes service for which a former member of the general assembly is entitled to under former §. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
  • Subscription: includes a mark, the name being written near the mark and witnessed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(1) If a veteran of the United States armed forces, or any other person, personally appears and presents to the county register a military discharge for recording, before accepting the document for recording, the county register shall give to the person a written notice substantially as follows:

NOTICE

A MILITARY DISCHARGE RECORDED IN THE OFFICE OF THE COUNTY REGISTER IS NOT A CONFIDENTIAL RECORD. IT IS A PUBLIC RECORD AND THE INFORMATION CONTAINED ON THE DISCHARGE CAN BE EXAMINED BY ANYONE.

(2) A military discharge may be recorded with all or a portion of the veteran’s social security identification number redacted, but this is not required for recording. However, if the discharge is altered, the United States government may not accept it as a valid document for purposes of approving military benefits to the veteran or the veteran’s family. A county register will not cause a military discharge record recorded in the office of the county register to be viewed over the Internet, except through a subscription service approved by the county register.
(3) If, after giving the person offering the document the opportunity to read the notice described in subdivision (a)(1), the person still desires to have the military discharge recorded, the county register may record it. The register may record a military discharge received by mail without giving the notice described in subdivision (a)(1).
(b) A county register may record a military discharge of a veteran of the United States armed forces that is received with or without the redaction of all or a portion of the veteran’s social security identification number. For a military discharge to be eligible for recording, the document must be an original or a copy authenticated as a true copy by the appropriate armed service of the United States or the United States department of defense or agency thereof. Additionally, the county register may make a copy of a military discharge eligible for recording, allow the person tendering the military discharge to make redactions on the copy made by the county register, and record the copy with the redactions.