---
kind: "section"
citation: "10 U.S.C. § 1042"
title: "10"
title_heading: "Armed Forces"
number: "1042"
heading: "Copy of certificate of service"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/10/1042"
units:
  - "Subtitle A — General Military Law"
  - "Part II — Personnel"
  - "Chapter 53 — Miscellaneous Rights and Benefits"
---

# §1042. Copy of certificate of service


A fee for a copy of a certificate showing service in the [armed forces](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-4) may not be charged to—

- (1) a [person](/usc/10/2700.md?p=2) discharged or released from the [armed forces](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-4) honorably or under honorable conditions;
- (2) the next of kin of the [person](/usc/10/2700.md?p=2); or
- (3) a legal representative of the [person](/usc/10/2700.md?p=2).

## Source credit

(Added Pub. L. 97–258, § 2(b)(2)(B), Sept. 13, 1982, 96 Stat. 1052.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Revised section | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large) |
| 1042 | 31:483b. | June 19, 1956, ch. 409, 70 Stat. 297. |

The words “armed forces” are substituted for “Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard” because of 10:101(4). The words “honorably or” are added for consistency with 10:1040.