Veterans burial benefits are real and substantial, but they are not what most families assume. Here’s the plain version: the VA will bury an eligible veteran in a national cemetery at no cost to the family. That covers the gravesite, opening and closing the grave, a grave liner, a government headstone, and perpetual care, and it comes with a burial flag and a Presidential Memorial Certificate. What the VA does not do is pay for the funeral. Funeral home services, the casket, embalming, and transportation are still the family’s expense, offset only partly by a modest burial allowance.
Understanding where that line falls is the difference between a family that plans well and one that gets a bill it didn’t expect.
Burial in a National Cemetery: The Biggest Benefit
This is the part worth the most money, and the part families most often don’t use because they didn’t know it existed.
An eligible veteran can be buried in any VA national cemetery with available space, and these are provided at no cost to the family:
- The gravesite, in a national cemetery of your choosing where space allows.
- Opening and closing of the grave, plus a grave liner where one is used.
- A government headstone, marker, or niche cover, inscribed.
- Perpetual care of the grave as part of a national shrine.
That package would cost thousands at a private cemetery. The plot and the opening-and-closing charge alone are among the largest line items in a conventional burial, as our breakdown of how much a funeral costs shows.
Cremated remains get the same treatment: interment in a grave, columbarium niche, or scattering area, with the same benefits.
Spouses and dependents are covered too
Eligible spouses and dependent children may be buried in a national cemetery at no cost, even if they die before the veteran and even if the veteran is later buried elsewhere. Their name and dates are inscribed on the veteran’s headstone at no charge, and a surviving spouse who remarried may still be eligible.
Who’s eligible
Generally, veterans who completed the required period of service and did not receive a dishonorable discharge, plus service members who die on active duty and certain reservists and Guard members. Eligibility is more inclusive than families assume, but it isn’t universal.
You don’t have to guess. The VA offers a pre-need eligibility determination on VA Form 40-10007. Apply while the veteran is living and get a written decision on file, which removes the biggest unknown from an already hard week.
Headstones, Markers, Flags, and Certificates
These are available whether the veteran is buried in a national cemetery, a state veterans cemetery, or a private one.
- A government headstone or marker, furnished at no cost for an eligible veteran’s unmarked grave anywhere in the world. In a private cemetery the VA provides the marker but the family pays the setting fee to install it.
- A medallion to affix to an existing privately purchased headstone, for veterans who died on or after November 1, 1990.
- A burial flag to drape the casket or accompany the urn, given afterward to the next of kin. Request it with VA Form 27-2008; many funeral homes and post offices can help.
- A Presidential Memorial Certificate, engraved and signed by the sitting President, with no limit on how many family members can request one.
- Military funeral honors, including a flag folding and presentation and the playing of Taps, provided by the Department of Defense on request. Your funeral director arranges this.
If a privately purchased headstone is used instead, the VA may reimburse part of its cost, currently around $441 for deaths on or after October 1, 2025, adjusted annually.
Burial Allowances: The Numbers That Matter
The burial allowance is a cash payment toward funeral and burial costs. It’s genuinely helpful and genuinely limited, and the amount depends almost entirely on whether the death was service-connected.
If the death was service-connected, the maximum burial allowance is $2,000 for deaths on or after September 11, 2001. That figure is set by statute and isn’t adjusted annually. If the veteran is buried in a national cemetery, transportation of the remains may also be reimbursed.
If the death was not service-connected, the VA pays a burial allowance of $1,002 plus a plot or interment allowance of $1,002 for deaths on or after October 1, 2025. These rates adjust each October (the prior year’s were $978 each), so confirm the current amount rather than relying on any figure you read online, including this one.
Eligibility for the non-service-connected allowance isn’t automatic. It generally requires that the veteran was receiving VA pension or compensation, had a pending claim, died in a VA facility or while traveling for VA-authorized care, or died with no next of kin and an insufficient estate. The plot allowance generally applies when the veteran is not buried in a national cemetery, which already provides the plot.
Transportation may also be reimbursed when the death was service-connected or the veteran died in a VA facility or while traveling for VA care.
What Families Still Pay For
This is the gap, and it’s the reason the “the VA covers everything” myth causes real financial harm.
The VA does not pay for:
- Funeral home services, meaning the basic services fee, staff, and coordination. Often the largest single charge on the bill.
- The casket or urn, and embalming, cosmetic preparation, or refrigeration.
- Viewing, visitation, and the ceremony itself, including facility use.
- Transportation of the remains, except in the reimbursement situations noted above.
- Flowers, programs, an obituary, a reception, clergy honoraria, and certified death certificates.
- A private cemetery plot, beyond the limited plot allowance.
Put concretely: a family holding a viewing at a funeral home and then burying the veteran in a national cemetery still faces most of the funeral home’s charges. The national cemetery eliminates the cemetery bill, not the funeral bill.
How to Apply
For burial in a national cemetery, the funeral director usually handles it, but the family can too. The DD Form 214 is the key document. Fax the discharge paperwork to the National Cemetery Scheduling Office at 1-866-900-6417, then follow up at 1-800-535-1117. Gravesites can’t be reserved in advance, which is why the pre-need eligibility determination is so useful.
For the burial allowance, file VA Form 21P-530EZ. For a non-service-connected death you generally must file within two years of the burial; there’s no comparable deadline for a service-connected claim. In some cases a surviving spouse already on record with the VA is paid automatically without filing.
For a headstone or marker, file VA Form 40-1330, or call 1-800-697-6947.
Find the DD Form 214 before you need it. Families lose thousands of dollars in benefits because nobody could locate the discharge paperwork in the two days they had to decide. Copies can be requested from the National Archives, but that takes time.
Accredited veterans service organizations will help you file all of this at no charge: the VFW, American Legion, DAV, and your county veterans service officer. Use them.
Filling the Remaining Gap
Even with every benefit claimed, a veteran’s family typically has several thousand dollars of funeral home expense left.
Check first for coverage that already exists: SGLI while serving, VGLI if it was converted after separation, or S-DVI in some cases.
If there’s none, final expense insurance is designed for gaps this size. Face amounts typically run $5,000 to $25,000, with simplified or no health questions and issue ages extending into the eighties. It pays cash directly to a beneficiary, which matters when the funeral home wants payment before an estate is settled.
And if the money simply isn’t there, that’s solvable too. Who pays for a funeral if there’s no money walks through the options, and does Social Security pay for funerals covers the small federal payment that may also apply.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the VA pay for the whole funeral?
No. This is the most common misunderstanding about veterans burial benefits. The VA provides burial in a national cemetery at no cost plus a burial allowance of $1,002 to $2,000 depending on circumstances, but the funeral home’s services, casket, embalming, and ceremony remain the family’s expense.
Can a spouse be buried in a national cemetery?
Yes. Eligible spouses and dependent children may be buried at no cost to the family, including spouses who die before the veteran, with their information inscribed on the veteran’s headstone at no charge.
Does the VA cover cremation?
The VA doesn’t pay the crematory’s fee, but cremated remains are eligible for interment in a national cemetery with the same benefits as a casketed burial: the niche or gravesite, the marker, and perpetual care.
What if the veteran is buried in a private cemetery?
You still get a government headstone or marker at no cost (though the family pays the cemetery’s setting fee), the burial flag, the Presidential Memorial Certificate, and any allowance you qualify for. The plot and the cemetery’s charges are the family’s responsibility.
