VA Burial Benefits: What Veterans' Families Can Claim and How to Apply

When a veteran dies, the family is often planning a funeral in the same week they are learning — for the first time — that the VA owes them money and services. VA burial benefits can be worth several thousand dollars: a burial allowance, a plot allowance, free burial in a national cemetery, a government headstone, a burial flag, and a Presidential Memorial Certificate. Most families claim only some of them, because nobody hands you a list.

This is the list.

Who Qualifies

The veteran must have been discharged under conditions other than dishonorable. Beyond that baseline, burial allowance eligibility generally requires at least one of the following:

• The veteran died of a service-connected disability
• The veteran was receiving — or was entitled to receive — VA pension or disability compensation at the time of death
• The veteran died in a VA hospital, VA nursing home, or VA-approved facility
• The veteran died while traveling under VA authorization for examination or treatment

For burial in a VA national cemetery, the standard is broader: most veterans with an other-than-dishonorable discharge qualify, and so do their spouses and dependent children — a benefit families routinely overlook. Surviving spouses can be buried alongside the veteran even if they die first.

If the discharge status is unclear or you believe it was wrongly characterized, it is still worth asking: discharge upgrades happen, and certain VA benefits have their own character-of-discharge review.

Benefit 1: The Burial Allowance

This is a reimbursement toward funeral and burial costs, and it comes in two tiers:

• Service-connected death: If the veteran died from a disability connected to their service, the VA pays a burial allowance of up to $2,000. This is the highest tier, and after a long terminal illness it matters enormously — many conditions that kill veterans years later (cancers linked to Agent Orange or burn pit exposure, for example) are now presumptively service-connected. If the illness was on the presumptive list or the veteran was service-connected for it, do not let the family file at the lower tier by default.
• Non-service-connected death: The VA pays a smaller burial allowance, plus a separate plot or interment allowance if the veteran is not buried in a national cemetery. These amounts are set by law and adjusted annually — check the current figures at va.gov before you budget around them.

How to claim: File VA Form 21P-530EZ (Application for Burial Benefits). You can apply online through va.gov, by mail, or with help from an accredited Veterans Service Officer — VSOs at organizations like the VFW, American Legion, or DAV do this free and know the process cold. You will need the veteran's discharge papers (DD214), the death certificate, and itemized funeral bills.

Deadline: For non-service-connected deaths, you must file within two years of the burial. There is no time limit for service-connected claims — but file promptly anyway, because reimbursement takes weeks.

Benefit 2: Burial in a VA National Cemetery

This is the most valuable benefit and the least understood. For an eligible veteran, burial in a VA national cemetery costs the family nothing and includes:

• The gravesite itself
• Opening and closing of the grave
• A government headstone or marker
• Perpetual care of the site
• A burial flag and Presidential Memorial Certificate

Against private-cemetery plot and opening/closing costs of $2,000 to $5,000+, this is worth real money. Cremated remains can be interred or placed in a columbarium with the same benefits.

Plan ahead if you can: The VA offers a pre-need eligibility determination — you can confirm national cemetery eligibility while the veteran is still living, so the family never has to scramble for the DD214 the week of the funeral. If a veteran in your family is in hospice now, this is one of the most useful phone calls you can make this month.

Benefit 3: Headstone, Marker, or Medallion for a Private Cemetery

If the veteran is buried in a private cemetery instead of a national one, the VA will still provide a government headstone or marker at no cost — shipped to the cemetery, with the family paying only any setting fee the cemetery charges. Alternatively, families who prefer a private headstone can request a bronze medallion to attach to it. The application is VA Form 40-1330.

Benefit 4: Burial Flag and Presidential Memorial Certificate

• Burial flag: Every eligible veteran receives a US flag to drape the casket or accompany the urn, given to the next of kin after the service. Request it with VA Form 27-2008 — most funeral homes will handle this for you, and post offices stock the form.
• Presidential Memorial Certificate: An engraved certificate signed by the sitting President honoring the veteran's service. Request it with VA Form 40-0247 — you can request multiple copies for different family members, which few people know.

Benefit 5: Military Funeral Honors

By law, every eligible veteran is entitled to a military funeral honors ceremony — at minimum, the folding and presentation of the flag and the playing of Taps by a detail of at least two service members. The funeral director coordinates this through the relevant military branch at no cost to the family. Ask for it explicitly; it is not automatic.

The Mistakes That Cost Families Money

• Paying the funeral home before checking benefits. Tell the funeral director immediately that the deceased was a veteran. A good director will help you claim everything; all directors should at least know not to bill you for items the VA provides.
• Assuming a non-service-connected death. After a long illness, families often accept the lower allowance without asking whether the condition was service-connected or presumptive. If the veteran had any VA disability rating, or served in an era with presumptive conditions, ask a VSO before filing.
• Missing the two-year deadline on non-service-connected claims.
• Forgetting the spouse. A surviving spouse's future burial in the national cemetery is part of the veteran's benefit — document it now.

After a Long Illness: The Practical Order

If the death was expected, work this sequence in the first week: tell the funeral home the deceased was a veteran (day one), locate the DD214 (day one or two), call a VSO or the VA at 800-827-1000 to confirm which tier applies (before signing the funeral contract), and request the flag and honors through the funeral director. Everything else — headstone, certificates, allowances — follows from those first calls.

Other countries run parallel programs: Canada's Last Post Fund and Veterans Affairs Canada provide funeral and burial assistance, the UK's Veterans UK administers its schemes, and Australia's Department of Veterans' Affairs covers similar ground. The principle is identical everywhere — the benefits exist, and nobody claims them for you.

Tracking benefit claims alongside insurance, employer benefits, and everything else in the first month is exactly the kind of task that falls through the cracks when you are exhausted and grieving. Our After a Long Terminal Illness toolkit includes a printable benefits and claims tracker — every agency, policy number, call date, and confirmation number in one place, so no entitlement goes unclaimed because a phone call got lost in the fog.