VA burial benefits in 2026: what the VA pays, and how to claim it.

These are separate benefits, and the family can claim every one the veteran qualifies for. The burial allowance applies to every legal kind of burial, including cremation and burial at sea, and when a veteran’s body is donated to a medical school. The plot allowance is only for a grave, niche or similar place in a cemetery.

This is money to help cover funeral and burial costs. It goes to the person who paid them or owes them (or, for many surviving spouses, arrives automatically). How much depends on whether the death was connected to the veteran’s service.

If the death was not service-connected

For a qualifying death on or after October 1, 2026, the VA pays up to $1,032 toward burial and funeral costs and up to $1,032 toward a plot or interment. The plot allowance is paid only for a grave, niche or similar place in a cemetery other than a national, state or tribal veterans cemetery. The amount is set by the date of death and rises with inflation each October 1:

The veteran must have been discharged under conditions other than dishonorable (if the discharge was other than honorable, the VA decides case by case), and one of these must be true. The veteran:

• died in hospital, nursing home or domiciliary care that VA provided or paid for: admitted to a VA hospital, nursing home or domiciliary, or placed by VA in a non-VA hospital, a nursing home or a state veterans nursing home (a death during an outpatient visit does not count);
• died while traveling at VA expense for care;
• was receiving a VA pension or disability compensation;
• would have been receiving VA disability compensation but received military retired pay instead; or
• had a claim for VA pension or disability compensation pending at death and would have been entitled to it from a date before death.

The plot allowance can also be paid when none of these is true, if the veteran was discharged for a disability incurred or made worse in the line of duty, or had a disability at discharge, shown by official service records, which in medical judgment would have justified a discharge for disability.

If the death was service-connected

If the veteran died of a service-connected disability, the VA pays up to $2,000 toward burial costs for a death on or after September 11, 2001 (up to $1,500 before that date). It is paid instead of the burial and plot allowances above. There is no deadline to file.

Unless it has evidence otherwise, the VA treats the death as service-connected if, when they died, the veteran was rated totally disabled by service-connected conditions (not counting a total rating based on unemployability), even if the death had another cause.

Transportation

The VA also pays back reasonable costs of moving the remains in some cases: to the place of burial if the veteran met one of the conditions above (for example, was receiving VA compensation or pension, even if the death was service-connected) or died in hospital, nursing home or domiciliary care that VA provided or paid for; and, for any other service-connected death, to a VA national cemetery or a VA-funded state or tribal veterans cemetery (up to the cost of reaching the closest national cemetery with space). Keep itemized receipts in your own name.

Who gets paid, and the deadline

Anyone who paid for the funeral, or owes the bill and is legally responsible for it, and won’t be paid back by someone else can apply: a surviving spouse or partner, a child, a parent, the executor, a friend or another family member, or the funeral home itself. The VA pays only one person, generally the first to file from this list: the surviving spouse, a legal-union partner, the children, the parents, or the executor. It does not split the payment, so file promptly.

For a death that was not service-connected, the VA must receive the claim within 2 years of the burial. There is no time limit for a service-connected death, for a veteran who died in hospital, nursing home or domiciliary care that VA provided or paid for or while traveling at VA expense for care, or for the plot and transportation claims.

The VA does not pay the allowance if the person died on active duty, while serving in Congress, or while serving a federal prison sentence.

Burial in a VA national cemetery comes at no cost to the family. It includes:

• a gravesite in any national cemetery with space available;
• opening and closing of the grave;
• a burial liner provided by the government;
• a government headstone or marker; and
• perpetual care of the grave.

The family still pays the funeral home for its own services, such as the casket or urn and the funeral itself. Cremated remains are buried or placed in a columbarium with the same honors as a casket. If the family buys its own outer burial container instead of using the government liner, the VA pays an allowance toward it: $387 for burials in 2026.

Who can be buried there

• a veteran discharged under conditions other than dishonorable;
• a service member who died on active duty or during training;
• a National Guard or Reserve member who was entitled to retirement pay, or would have been if not under age 60 (this does not depend on the 24-month rule below; other Guard and Reserve cases are listed on the VA’s eligibility page);
• the veteran’s spouse or surviving spouse, even one who remarried after the veteran died; and
• the veteran’s minor child, and in some cases an unmarried adult dependent child.

A former spouse whose marriage to the veteran ended in divorce or annulment is not eligible through the veteran, unless they are a veteran themselves. If the veteran’s discharge was other than honorable, a VA regional office decides. Veterans who enlisted after September 7, 1980 (or officers after October 16, 1981) generally must have served 24 months of continuous active duty or the full period they were called up for; there are exceptions, such as a discharge for a disability from service.

How to arrange it

The funeral director usually calls the National Cemetery Scheduling Office at 800-535-1117 (TTY 711), Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Eastern, and sends the discharge papers (usually the DD214) by fax to 866-900-6417 or by email to NCA.Scheduling@va.gov. National cemeteries hold burials Monday to Friday. For a burial at sea, contact Navy Mortuary Affairs at 866-787-0081.

In a national cemetery the headstone is part of the burial. In a private cemetery, the VA still provides a government headstone or marker if the grave is unmarked, or if the veteran died on or after November 1, 1990 and the grave already has a privately bought headstone. Apply with VA Form 40-1330 (help line 800-697-6947).

If the family prefers its own headstone, the VA provides a bronze medallion to attach to it, showing the person served. It is for a veteran buried in a private cemetery with a permanent, privately bought headstone or marker, and a discharge under honorable conditions or better. Apply with VA Form 40-1330M.

Spouses and dependent children buried in a private cemetery can’t receive their own government headstone, but they may be able to have their name inscribed on the veteran’s. In national, state and tribal veterans cemeteries, and military post or base cemeteries, they do qualify for their own.

Veterans who enlisted after September 7, 1980 (or officers after October 16, 1981) generally need 24 months of continuous active duty or the full period they were called up for, unless an exception applies, such as death on active duty; the VA’s headstone application lists the others.

Burial flag

A U.S. flag drapes the casket or accompanies the urn, and is given to the next of kin after the service. Apply with VA Form 27-2008 through the funeral director, a VA regional office or a post office. The VA can’t replace a flag that is lost, destroyed or stolen.

Military funeral honors

By law, an eligible veteran’s burial can include an honor detail of at least two members of the armed forces. At a minimum they play Taps and fold and present the flag to the next of kin. The funeral director requests honors for the family; a Veterans Service Organization or national cemetery staff can also help.

Presidential Memorial Certificate

A certificate signed by the President, honoring the veteran. At a national cemetery burial it is presented to the next of kin automatically. Otherwise, next of kin, other family members and close friends can request one with VA Form 40-0247, with copies of the death certificate and discharge papers. The veteran must have been eligible for burial in a national cemetery.

State and tribal veterans cemeteries are built with VA grants but run by the state or tribe, which sets its own fees and rules. Some charge a fee for a spouse or child; Idaho, for example, charges spouses and dependent children a fee and has no residency requirement. Check with the cemetery directly, including about its own pre-need program.

Arlington National Cemetery is run by the U.S. Army, not the VA, and in-ground burial there has the strictest eligibility of any national cemetery. Most veterans with at least one day of active service (not for training) and an honorable discharge qualify for above-ground placement of cremated remains. Call Arlington at 877-907-8585.

A veteran or spouse can ask the VA to confirm, in advance, that they qualify for burial in a national cemetery. Apply with VA Form 40-10007online, by mail to the NCA Evidence Intake Center, PO Box 5237, Janesville, WI 53547, or by fax to 855-840-8299. Then the family won’t have to prove eligibility at the time of death.

The decision letter doesn’t reserve a cemetery or a gravesite; that isn’t possible in advance. It doesn’t cover Arlington or state cemeteries, and it can’t be requested after the person has died. Keep the letter with the discharge papers, and tell the family where they are; for everything else worth writing down, see planning ahead.

1. Find the discharge papers(usually the DD214). The funeral home and the cemetery will ask for them. If you can’t find them and the burial is in a VA national cemetery, the scheduling office (800-535-1117) gets the records from the National Archives itself, so don’t request them separately. For any other burial, the funeral director or next of kin can ask the National Archives’ National Personnel Records Center for the DD214 as an emergency request (marked as urgent for a funeral), or you can request it at archives.gov/veterans. A Veterans Service Officer (from groups such as the American Legion, VFW or DAV) can help with any of these claims at no cost.
2. Tell the funeral director the person served. They can arrange a national cemetery burial, the flag and military honors.
3. Apply for the allowance with VA Form 21P-530EZ, unless you are a spouse paid automatically and have nothing more to claim. Apply online at va.gov, or mail it to the Department of Veterans Affairs, Pension Intake Center, PO Box 5365, Janesville, WI 53547-5365. Include the death certificate showing the cause of death, and itemized receipts for any transportation.
4. For a private cemetery, apply for the headstone, marker or medallion (VA Form 40-1330 or 40-1330M).
5. Request the Presidential Memorial Certificate (VA Form 40-0247) if the family would like one.

Questions about the allowance go to the VA at 800-827-1000 (TTY 711), Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern. The VA asks for a copy of the death certificate (a certified copy isn’t required for this claim); banks, insurers and others often want certified copies; see how many to order.

Two VA benefits can pay a surviving family monthly, separate from the burial benefits:

• Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) is a tax-free monthly payment for the surviving spouse, child or parent of a service member who died in the line of duty, or of a veteran who died from a service-related injury or illness. A surviving spouse or child may also qualify if the veteran was rated totally disabled by service-connected conditions for a set period before death (at least 10 years; or since leaving active duty and at least 5 years; or at least 1 year for a former prisoner of war who died after September 30, 1999), even if the death had another cause.
• Survivors Pension pays monthly to qualified surviving spouses and unmarried dependent children of wartime veterans who meet income and net worth limits.

Social Security has its own one-time $255 payment and monthly survivor benefits; see Social Security after a death.