Veterans funeral benefits

Benefit amounts on this page were checked September 2026. The VA adjusts several of them annually, so confirm the current figure on the official page before you rely on it.

What a veteran is entitled to

A veteran with a discharge other than dishonourable may be buried at no cost in a national cemetery, including the grave, opening and closing, a liner, a headstone and perpetual care. Burial in a private cemetery draws a smaller allowance instead. For a service-connected death the allowance is up to $2,000. For a death not service-connected it is $978 toward burial and $978 toward the plot where the veteran was in VA care, and less otherwise. A headstone or marker and a burial flag are provided free either way.

Set that against the cost of an ordinary funeral, which runs about $8,300 at the funeral home and roughly $15,395 once the cemetery bills, and the shape of the benefit becomes clear. National cemetery burial removes the entire $7,095 cemetery side of the bill. The allowances for a private cemetery are useful but modest, and they were never designed to fund a funeral.

Who is eligible

Eligibility for burial in a national cemetery rests on the character of discharge and, for many, on a minimum period of service. In broad terms it covers veterans who served on active duty and were discharged under conditions other than dishonourable. Those who enlisted after 7 September 1980 generally need to have completed the shorter of 24 months of continuous active duty or the full period for which they were called. Service members who die on active duty are eligible regardless. Reserve and National Guard members qualify in defined circumstances, including retirement eligibility and death while on training duty.

A dishonourable discharge disqualifies. Some other than honourable discharges are decided case by case, and a discharge upgrade granted later can restore eligibility. If there is any doubt, the VA can make an eligibility determination in advance through its pre need programme, which is worth doing while the veteran is alive because it removes the question entirely from the worst week to be answering it.

Cremated remains carry exactly the same eligibility as a casketed burial. A veteran who chooses a direct cremation may still be interred in a national cemetery, in a grave or in a columbarium niche, at no cost.

Burial in a national cemetery

The National Cemetery Administration operates more than one hundred and fifty national cemeteries across the country, and many states run their own veterans cemeteries built with VA grant funding. There is no charge to the family for the grave, for opening and closing it, for the liner, for the headstone or for the care of the site afterwards.

Gravesites cannot be reserved in advance in the national system, and are assigned at the time of need, though the VA will confirm eligibility in advance. Not every cemetery has space for a new casket grave, and some accept only cremated remains or subsequent interments in an existing family grave. The scheduling office will tell you what is available near you.

Military funeral honours are separate from the cemetery itself and are provided on request by the branch of service. At minimum that means two uniformed service members, the folding and presentation of the flag, and the sounding of Taps. The funeral director requests it, and it should be asked for explicitly.

State veterans cemeteries follow similar rules but are run by the state, and some charge a fee for a spouse or dependent even where the veteran is free. Residency requirements are common. Check with the individual cemetery.

The burial allowance for a private cemetery

If the family buries the veteran in a private cemetery instead, the no cost interment does not apply and a monetary allowance is paid instead. The amounts are set out in the table above. The allowance is a partial reimbursement, paid to whoever bore the cost, and it is not a fund the funeral home can draw on at the time of the arrangement.

Two limits are worth understanding before you plan around it. First, the sums are small relative to a funeral, which is the single most common disappointment families report. Second, the plot allowance is not paid where the veteran is buried in a national cemetery, because the plot was already provided.

Time limits apply. For a death that is not service connected, a claim generally has to be filed within two years of the burial or cremation. For a service connected death there is no such deadline. In some cases the VA pays the allowance automatically to a surviving spouse of record without a claim being filed, but do not assume it. Check.

Headstones, markers and medallions

The VA furnishes a headstone or marker for the grave of any eligible veteran, in any cemetery in the world, at no cost. In a national cemetery it is placed automatically. In a private cemetery it has to be applied for, and while the stone itself is free, the VA does not pay to set it. Private cemeteries commonly charge an installation or setting fee, so ask what that is.

Where the family has already bought a private headstone, the VA offers a bronze medallion instead, affixed to the existing stone, for veterans who died on or after 1 November 1990. That covers a common situation where a family memorial already stands and nobody wants a second marker.

Inscriptions may include rank, branch, war service, dates, and one of a long list of approved emblems of belief. A brief personal inscription is permitted subject to space and approval.

The burial flag

A United States flag is provided at no cost to drape the casket or accompany the urn, and it is given to the next of kin afterwards as a keepsake. One flag is issued per veteran. The funeral director usually obtains it, and flags are also issued at VA regional offices and at most post offices on presentation of the application form and proof of service.

If no next of kin claims it, a close friend may request it. Replacement flags are not issued if one is lost or destroyed, so it is worth taking care of it, and the VA does supply a display case only in limited circumstances, which is why families often buy one separately.

Presidential Memorial Certificate

This is an engraved paper certificate bearing the signature of the current president, honouring the veteran’s service. It costs nothing, and there is no limit on the number of copies, so every child and grandchild can have one. Families often do not learn it exists until years later.

It can be requested at the time of death by the funeral director, or at any point afterwards by a relative or friend, with a copy of the discharge papers and the death certificate. It is one of the few benefits with no deadline attached.

The VA also maintains the Veterans Legacy Memorial, a free online memorial page for every veteran interred in a VA national cemetery and many others, where family can add photographs and tributes.

Spouses and dependent children

A spouse, surviving spouse and dependent children may be buried in a national cemetery alongside the veteran, at no cost, and their names are inscribed on the same headstone. This holds even for a surviving spouse who remarried, and it holds whether or not the veteran is already interred there.

What is not provided is any cash allowance for a family member buried in a private cemetery. The burial allowance applies to the veteran alone. That gap catches families out regularly, particularly where a couple assumed both funerals were covered.

Separately, a surviving spouse may be entitled to Dependency and Indemnity Compensation where the death was service connected. The Social Security lump sum death payment is a separate benefit again. A one-time payment of $255 to a surviving spouse who was living with the worker, or to a child eligible on the record. The amount has been fixed at $255 since 1954 and is not adjusted for inflation, so treat it as a formality rather than as funding. It must be claimed within two years. The full cost guide sets out the rest of what a family is left paying.

What the VA does not pay for

• The funeral home. Basic services, preparation, viewing, ceremony and the hearse are all on the family.
• The casket or the urn, in a national cemetery or anywhere else.
• Transporting the veteran to the cemetery, other than in defined service connected cases.
• Setting a government headstone in a private cemetery.
• A funeral for a spouse or child buried outside a national cemetery.
• Any of it in advance. These are reimbursements and services at the time of need, not a fund you can spend.

Which is the point families most need to hear. Even with full national cemetery eligibility, the funeral home portion of the bill remains, and that is the larger half at about $8,300 for a burial with a viewing or $6,280 for a cremation with a service. See the full itemised breakdown for what sits inside those figures, and how families get overcharged for the parts that are declinable.

How to claim, step by step

1. Find the discharge papers. The DD Form 214, or its equivalent for older service, is needed for almost every benefit here. If it cannot be found, the National Archives holds military service records and will supply a copy, though it takes time, which is a good reason to locate it in advance.
2. Call the National Cemetery Scheduling Office. The number is 1-800-535-1117. The funeral director will normally do this, but the family can. Have the discharge papers to hand. This is the call that arranges the interment.
3. Ask the funeral director to request military funeral honours. It is not automatic and it is easy to miss.
4. Request the burial flag. The funeral director usually handles this, or apply at a post office or VA regional office.
5. Apply for the headstone or medallion if the burial is in a private cemetery. In a national cemetery it is handled for you.
6. File VA Form 21P-530EZ for the burial allowance if the burial is in a private cemetery. Attach the death certificate, the discharge papers and the itemised funeral bill showing what was paid and by whom. Watch the two year deadline for a death that is not service connected.
7. Request the Presidential Memorial Certificate, as many copies as the family wants. There is no deadline on this one.