VA Burial Allowance: 2026 Rates and Who Can File a Claim

• There Is No $25,000 VA Burial Benefit
• Who Can File a Claim
• Service-Connected Death: Up to $2,000
• Non-Service-Connected Death: Up to $1,032
• When the Burial Allowance Doesn’t Apply
• The Plot or Interment Allowance
• Headstone or Marker Allowance
• Other Burial and Memorial Benefits
• Time Limits for Filing
• How to Apply
• Benefits for Surviving Families
• Frequently Asked Questions

The VA burial allowance helps reimburse a veteran’s family for funeral, burial, and plot costs after their death. It’s a real, current benefit — but it’s also one of the most heavily targeted by scams promising figures VA has never actually paid. This guide covers the real 2026 rates, who can file, and how the process actually works.

There Is No $25,000 VA Burial Benefit

If you’ve seen social media ads, unsolicited calls, or texts citing a $25,000 VA burial benefit, that figure doesn’t exist in any VA program. It appears to be used by scammers to collect personal information from grieving families at an especially vulnerable moment. The real burial allowance amounts are described below — meaningful, but nowhere near that number. If a caller or ad pressures you for payment or personal details, see our guide to scams that target veterans and their families before responding.

Who Can File a Claim

You may be eligible to file for the burial allowance if you personally paid the veteran’s burial and funeral costs, won’t be reimbursed by another organization (such as another government agency or the veteran’s employer), and your relationship to the veteran is one of the following:

• The veteran’s surviving spouse (including same-sex marriages) or surviving partner from a legal union
• A surviving child of the veteran
• A parent of the veteran
• The executor or administrator of the veteran’s estate
• A family member or friend who isn’t the estate’s executor
• A representative from a funeral home, cemetery, or other organization

If you’re the surviving spouse, read this first: you generally don’t need to file a claim at all. As long as you’re listed as the veteran’s spouse on their VA profile, VA automatically pays a set amount to eligible surviving spouses once it’s notified of the veteran’s death — no separate application required. VA describes that payment as help with the plot, the cost of interment, or transporting the remains to the cemetery. This is easy to miss and worth confirming directly with VA if you’re not sure whether you’re listed correctly, or whether the automatic payment covers what you paid. For the ongoing benefits a surviving spouse may also qualify for, see our guide to VA benefits for spouses of veterans.

Service-Connected Death: Up to $2,000

If the veteran’s death was caused by a service-connected disability, VA pays up to $2,000 toward burial and funeral expenses for deaths on or after September 11, 2001 (up to $1,500 for deaths before that date). VA considers a death service-connected if it was due to an illness or injury caused, or made worse, by active-duty service. A service-connected death can also open the door to monthly Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) for the veteran’s surviving spouse and dependents, which is a separate claim from the burial allowance. There is no time limit to file a claim for the service-connected burial or transportation allowance. If the veteran is buried in a VA national cemetery, VA may also reimburse some or all of the cost of transporting their remains.

Non-Service-Connected Death: Up to $1,032

For deaths not caused by a service-connected condition, VA pays up to $1,032 toward burial and funeral expenses for deaths on or after October 1, 2026 (this rate adjusts each October 1 — it was $1,002 for deaths from October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026, and $978 the year before that). A veteran who did not receive a dishonorable discharge (see our guide to types of military discharges) generally qualifies for this tier if any of the following was true at the time of death:

• The veteran died while getting VA care, either at a VA facility or a facility contracted by VA
• The veteran died while traveling with proper authorization, at VA’s expense, to or from a facility for an examination, treatment, or care
• The veteran had an original or reopened claim for VA compensation or pension pending at the time of death, and would have been entitled to benefits before then
• The veteran was receiving VA pension or compensation at the time of death
• The veteran was eligible for VA compensation or pension at the time of death but instead received full military retirement or disability pay

A structural detail worth knowing about: VA’s rate tables historically distinguished between veterans who died while hospitalized by VA (a higher rate) and those who didn’t (a lower rate). Since January 5, 2023, those two rates have been equalized — the current-year amount is the same $1,032 either way. VA still publishes the two tables separately for historical reference, since older death dates before that equalization still use the older, differentiated rates, but for any death from 2023 onward, the hospitalization distinction no longer changes your payment amount.

Non-service-connected burial allowance claims generally must be filed within two years of the veteran’s burial — though see the time-limit exceptions below, since the plot and transportation allowances work differently.

Temporary Hospice-at-Home Expansion (Through October 1, 2026)

Under the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act, veterans who were discharged from VA medical or nursing care specifically to receive VA-provided hospice care at home, and who died between July 1, 2025 and October 1, 2026, were temporarily eligible for the burial allowance without needing to separately meet the usual criteria. That window has now closed. A bill to extend it through 2030, Gerald’s Law Reauthorization of 2026, was introduced in March 2026, but we have not confirmed that it has become law, so check with VA before assuming the provision applies to a death after October 1, 2026. If the veteran died inside the window, you can still file within the usual deadline — mention the hospice-at-home provision explicitly when you do.

When the Burial Allowance Doesn’t Apply

VA does not pay a burial allowance if the veteran died in any of these circumstances:

• While on active duty
• While serving as a member of Congress
• While serving a federal prison sentence

The active-duty exclusion surprises some families — deaths on active duty are handled through separate Department of Defense death-benefit channels, not this VA program.

The Plot or Interment Allowance

Separate from the burial allowance itself, VA pays up to $1,032 toward the cost of a plot or interment for deaths on or after October 1, 2026 — but only if the veteran is not buried in a national cemetery, since burial space there is provided at no cost in the first place. A family can potentially receive both the burial allowance and the plot allowance for a non-service-connected death, meaning up to roughly $2,064 combined ($1,032 plus $1,032) when the veteran is buried in a private cemetery. This allowance is also available to Tribal organizations for interment of eligible veterans on trust land, and — unlike the burial allowance itself — it carries no time limit for filing, even for a non-service-connected death.

Headstone or Marker Allowance

VA also provides a separate headstone or marker allowance, $441 for deaths on or after October 1, 2025, up from $371 the year before. VA’s table had not yet posted an amount for deaths on or after October 1, 2026 when we last checked, so confirm the current figure on VA.gov before you file. This allowance applies toward a headstone or marker when the veteran isn’t buried in a national cemetery, where a government headstone or marker is otherwise provided at no cost.

Other Burial and Memorial Benefits

The burial allowance is one piece of a larger set of VA burial and memorial benefits, and families often confuse them. Each has its own eligibility rules and its own request process:

• Burial in a VA national cemetery. A veteran who did not receive a dishonorable discharge is eligible. A spouse or surviving spouse is also eligible, even if the spouse remarried after the veteran’s death, as are a veteran’s minor children. Cases involving other-than-honorable, bad conduct, or undesirable discharges are decided by a VA regional office.
• Pre-need eligibility decision. Veterans can ask VA to confirm national cemetery eligibility in advance, which gives the family a decision letter to work from later.
• Headstones, markers, and medallions. VA provides these to honor a veteran’s service. A medallion is for veterans interred in a private cemetery and can only be attached to a privately purchased headstone or marker.
• Burial flag and Presidential Memorial Certificate. Eligible families may request a U.S. flag to drape the casket or accompany an urn, and an engraved certificate signed by the current president recognizing the veteran’s service.

Because the character of a veteran’s discharge drives eligibility for both the allowance and cemetery burial, families dealing with an other-than-honorable discharge should sort that out early. The veteran’s DD-214 is the document that settles it.

Time Limits for Filing

The filing deadline depends on which allowance you’re claiming and why, and it’s more nuanced than a flat rule:

• Service-connected death: no time limit for the burial or transportation allowance.
• Non-service-connected death, burial allowance: generally 2 years from the veteran’s burial — unless the veteran died while under VA care (at a VA facility or a VA-contracted facility), in which case there’s no time limit.
• Plot/interment allowance or transportation allowance: no time limit, regardless of whether the death was service-connected.
• Posthumous discharge upgrade: if the veteran’s discharge status was changed after their death from dishonorable to another status, you must file within 2 years of that change.

How to Apply

1. Pay the funeral and burial costs first. This benefit reimburses the family after the fact — VA does not pay funeral homes directly or provide funds upfront.
2. If you’re the surviving spouse, confirm you’re listed correctly on the veteran’s VA profile — you likely don’t need to file a separate claim at all.
3. Otherwise, file VA Form 21P-530EZ (Application for Burial Benefits), either online at VA.gov, or by mail to: Department of Veterans Affairs, Pension Intake Center, PO Box 5365, Janesville, WI 53547-5365. The application takes roughly 30 minutes to complete.
4. Gather your documentation. You’ll need the veteran’s death certificate (showing cause of death), an itemized receipt if you paid for transportation of the remains, and ideally the veteran’s DD-214 or other separation documents. If you’re claiming a service-connected death, you can optionally submit the veteran’s medical records to help VA confirm their condition at the time of death — this isn’t required, but VA notes it can help process the claim.
5. Wait for VA’s response. VA will follow up by mail, either requesting more information or notifying you of approval or denial.

Note that this burial allowance is separate from eligibility for burial in a VA national cemetery, which has its own distinct set of requirements covering veterans, service members, and certain family members. Qualifying for one doesn’t automatically mean you qualify for the other — check VA’s national cemetery eligibility page separately if that’s part of your planning.

Because the allowance is a flat reimbursement, it typically covers only part of what a funeral and burial cost, and families have to pay up front. Some veterans plan for the gap with final expense insurance, which pays a lump sum to a beneficiary soon after death.

Benefits for Surviving Families

The burial allowance is a one-time reimbursement. A veteran’s death can also trigger ongoing benefits for the people left behind, and none of them are paid through the burial claim:

• Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC): tax-free monthly payments to eligible survivors when the veteran died from a service-connected condition.
• CHAMPVA: health coverage for dependents of a veteran who was rated permanently and totally disabled or who died from a service-connected disability.
• Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP): a monthly annuity for survivors of military retirees who enrolled, paid through DFAS rather than VA.
• Benefits for the widow or widower of a veteran: a broader overview of what surviving spouses can claim and where to apply.

Frequently Asked Questions

This article is provided by USMilitary.org, an independent educational resource. We are not affiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs or any government agency. For official information and to file a claim, visit VA.gov.