Veterans cremation and burial benefits

What the VA pays toward a cremation

• Service-connected death: up to $2,000 if the veteran died on or after Sept. 11, 2001; up to $1,500 if before.
• Non-service-connected death, veteran died on or after Oct. 1, 2025: $1,002 burial allowance and $1,002 plot allowance. Same amounts if hospitalized by VA at death. Prior years have lower amounts.
• Burial benefits cover all legal burial types, including cremation and burial at sea.
• Time limit: none for a service-connected death; otherwise file within 2 years after burial, with exceptions. Eligible surviving spouses on the veteran's profile are paid automatically.
• Apply online or by mail on VA Form 21P-530EZ to the Pension Intake Center, PO Box 5365, Janesville, WI 53547-5365.
• National cemetery: gravesite, opening and closing, perpetual care, headstone or marker, PMC and burial flag at no cost. Cremated remains get the same honors as casketed remains. Options include in-ground burial or a columbarium niche; some cemeteries have a scattering garden or ossuary.
• Headstones and markers: available for eligible veterans in unmarked graves, or for deaths on or after Nov. 1, 1990 with a private headstone. Memorial headstones are available when cremated remains were scattered. Bronze niche markers are available for columbaria. Apply on VA Form 40-1330.
• Presidential Memorial Certificate: given automatically at a national cemetery burial; otherwise family or close friends apply on VA Form 40-0247, online, by mail, in person, by fax or upload.
• Commemorative urn or plaque: available for eligible veterans whose cremated remains were not interred.

Sources: VA, Veterans burial allowance; NCA, Burial and Memorial Benefits; NCA, Cremation Burial at VA National Cemeteries flyer; VA, Veterans headstones and markers; VA, Presidential Memorial Certificates; VA, Eligibility for burial in a VA national cemetery

Social Security's one-time death payment

Social Security pays a one-time $255 death payment to a surviving spouse. If there is no spouse, some children may get it. You must apply within 2 years of the death, by phone or online after signing in.

• A spouse who lived with the person may qualify. A spouse living apart may qualify if they can get benefits on the deceased's record.
• If there is no spouse, eligible children include those 17 or younger, 18 to 19 in school (K to 12) full time, or any age if disabled before age 22 ("at age 21 or younger").
• Apply within 2 years of the death.
• Phone: 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778), weekdays 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.; tell the representative you want to apply for a lump-sum death payment. The page also offers an online application after signing in to an account.

Source: SSA, Lump-sum death payment

FEMA funeral assistance

FEMA's COVID-19 Funeral Assistance is closed. FEMA is no longer taking new applications. It covered funeral expenses incurred between January 20, 2020 and September 30, 2025.

• Status: closed to new applications.
• Covered expense window: Jan. 20, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2025.
• As of Feb. 19, 2026, FEMA had approved about $3.26 billion for more than 506,000 applications.
• The exact last day applications were accepted is not stated on the page read. An older FEMA FAQ (last updated March 3, 2022) still says there is no deadline and is out of date.

Source: FEMA, COVID-19 Funeral Assistance