Nevada Victims of Crime Program

The hospital bill arrived while you were still planning the funeral. The ambulance ride alone was $3,200. The crime scene cleanup company wants $4,800 before they'll start. And your spouse's health insurance ended the day they died.

Nevada's Victims of Crime Program (VOCP) exists precisely for this moment. It can pay up to $35,000 in crime-related expenses — medical bills, counseling, funeral costs, wage replacement, and crime scene cleanup — when a violent crime has taken someone you love. Most surviving family members never apply because they don't know it exists, or they assume they won't qualify. This post covers who qualifies, what gets covered, and how to file before you've lost the chance.

What the VOCP Covers

The program covers five categories of expense:

Medical and ambulance bills. Emergency transport, hospital stays, surgery, and ongoing medical care related to the crime. This includes bills that insurance partially covered but left a remaining balance on, as well as bills from providers your insurance doesn't include.

Mental health counseling. Grief counseling and trauma therapy for surviving family members, not just the direct victim. If you or your children are seeing a therapist after a homicide, VOCP can reimburse those sessions.

Wage and income loss. If the victim was the household's primary earner, VOCP can compensate for lost wages. Surviving family members who had to take unpaid leave to deal with the immediate aftermath of the crime can also apply for their own wage loss.

Crime scene cleanup. Biological cleanup after a violent death is expensive — companies charge anywhere from $1,500 to $10,000 depending on the situation. VOCP covers this. Your homeowner's insurance typically does not.

Funeral and burial expenses. Reasonable funeral, burial, or cremation costs are covered up to the program's limits.

The combined maximum across all categories is $35,000.

What the VOCP Does Not Cover

Two things are explicitly excluded, and applicants sometimes assume otherwise.

Lost or stolen cash and property damage are not covered. If the crime involved theft of valuables or destruction of property, that's outside the VOCP's scope. The program compensates for physical harm and its direct financial consequences — it is not a property crime fund.

Non-crime-related expenses are not covered either. If your loved one had pre-existing medical bills unrelated to the crime, those don't qualify.

The "Payer of Last Resort" Rule — and Why It Matters

VOCP is structured as a payer of last resort. If another source can cover the expense — health insurance, life insurance, workers' compensation, another government program — VOCP will not pay that portion. You must pursue every other available source first.

This doesn't mean you're disqualified if you have insurance. It means VOCP fills the gap after your other coverage runs out. If your health insurance covered 80% of a $20,000 medical bill and left you with a $4,000 balance, VOCP can cover that remaining $4,000.

The practical implication: don't wait until you've exhausted all other options before applying. Apply to VOCP at the same time you're pursuing insurance claims and other benefits. The program is used to coordinating payments with other sources.

How the Subrogation Lien Works

If your family is also pursuing a civil lawsuit against the person responsible for the crime, the VOCP will still pay — but it attaches a subrogation lien to any settlement you receive. This means that if you win a civil judgment or reach a settlement, VOCP gets reimbursed from those proceeds for what it paid out on your behalf.

The lien is at the discounted contract rate VOCP negotiates with medical providers, not at the inflated "sticker price" on your hospital bills. This matters more than it might seem. Hospitals often bill at rates three to four times what they actually accept from insurers. When VOCP pays your medical bills at its contracted rate, any lien it places on your civil settlement reflects that lower negotiated amount — not the face value of the original bills.

Example: Your hospital billed $18,000 for an emergency room stay. Your insurance didn't cover it because the ER was out-of-network. VOCP pays the provider at its contracted rate of $9,000. If you later settle a civil lawsuit, VOCP's lien is $9,000 — not $18,000. You keep the difference.

Eligibility Requirements

To qualify, the crime must have occurred in Nevada, or the victim must be a Nevada resident who was harmed in a state that doesn't have its own compensation program. The crime must have been reported to law enforcement, and the victim (or family members applying on their behalf) must cooperate with law enforcement and prosecutors.

Immediate family members — spouses, children, parents, and siblings — can apply as secondary victims when the primary victim has died. "Immediate family" in VOCP's definition also includes people who were financially dependent on the victim.

There is no income threshold for VOCP eligibility. The program is not means-tested. What matters is the nature of the crime, whether it was reported, and whether the expenses fall within covered categories.

How to Apply

Applications go through the Division of Child and Family Services, accessible at dcnvda.org. The Nevada Division of Child and Family Services administers the program through its Victims of Crime Assistance office.

What you'll need to submit:

• A completed VOCP application form
• A copy of the police report or crime report number
• Documentation of all claimed expenses (bills, receipts, invoices)
• For funeral expenses: funeral home invoice and proof of payment or outstanding balance
• For wage loss: employer verification of missed work and pay rate
• For counseling: provider invoices

You can apply online through the dcnvda.org portal or request a paper application. Applications are reviewed by VOCP staff, who may contact you for additional documentation. Processing times vary based on caseload, but the program typically processes complete applications within 60 to 90 days.

There is no hard filing deadline specified in the statute, but Nevada law requires that claims be filed within a "reasonable time" after the crime. In practice, the program expects applications to be filed promptly. If significant time has passed since the crime, document your reasons for the delay in your application.

If You Were Denied

VOCP decisions can be appealed. If your application was denied or you received less than you applied for, you have the right to request an administrative hearing. The denial letter will explain the specific reason and the timeline for requesting an appeal. Common reasons for partial denials include insufficient documentation of expenses, expenses that fell outside covered categories, or prior insurance coverage that VOCP determined should have paid first.

If your claim was denied because of a collateral source issue, gather documentation showing that the other source actually refused to pay or paid only a portion — that changes the calculation.

If a violent crime has taken someone from your family, Nevada law gives you tools to recover financially — but you have to know where to look and how to file. The Nevada Survivor Benefits Navigator at /us/nevada/survivor-benefits/ walks through VOCP alongside every other benefit available to Nevada survivors: workers' compensation, Social Security, state pension survivor options, and county burial assistance programs. Most families leave significant money on the table because they didn't know where to start.

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