VA Burial Allowance Calculator
Estimate the 2026 VA burial, plot, and marker allowances a family may receive. The amount depends on the type of death and place of burial. Families often get less than they are owed because nobody tells them what to claim. Your part is to have the death certificate, funeral receipts, and the veteran's discharge papers ready before you file.
2026 maximum amounts, for deaths on or after October 1, 2025.
Understand burial benefits before you estimate
These allowances ease the cost of laying a veteran to rest. Here is how the VA decides the amount. Read these cards before you touch the numbers. A calculator only multiplies what you feed it, and the VA only pays what your file proves. If a card describes your situation, write down where the proof lives: a DD-214, a rating decision, a marriage or death certificate, a medical record. If you cannot point to the paper, treat that line of your estimate as a question, not a promise.
What the allowance covers
The VA burial allowance helps pay toward the funeral, burial, and plot costs of an eligible veteran. The amount depends on whether the death was service-connected and where the veteran is buried.
Service-connected pays more
When a veteran dies from a service-connected condition, the VA pays a substantially larger burial allowance. A non-service-connected death qualifies for a smaller burial allowance plus, in many cases, a plot allowance.
Markers and reimbursement
The VA also provides a headstone or marker at no cost, or an allowance toward a private one. Claims are usually filed by the person who paid the costs, keep every receipt.
About the death
Estimated burial benefits
Answer the questions to see the estimated burial benefits.
Burial allowances are maximum amounts and may be limited by actual costs. Eligibility depends on the veteran's discharge and the circumstances of death. This is a 2026 estimate. An accredited agent (Accreditation #45147) should review your specific situation.
We can help your family file
Burial and DIC claims often go hand in hand, and both are frequently underpaid. An accredited agent can make sure your family receives everything it is owed. No fees on representation unless you win. Here is your part before you pick up the phone: pull your most recent rating decision, your DD-214, and a list of every condition you are treated for today, service connected or not. Bring the estimate you just ran. If the number on your screen is higher than the number on your award letter, that gap is the conversation. The VA will not call you to point it out. Under 38 CFR 3.103 you have the right to see the evidence and to be heard, but only you can use it.
Explore every VA benefit calculator
Free, no sign-up. Each estimate is a starting point, an accredited agent turns it into a strategy that finds the ratings and benefits the VA missed. Every calculator below runs the same rules the VA uses, from the combined ratings table in 38 CFR 4.25 to the current compensation rates. Your part is simple: enter what is actually on your rating decision, not what you hope it says. If the number you get does not match what the VA pays you, that gap is worth a second look.
Real Veterans. Real Claims. Real Outcomes.
Every case on this desk belongs to someone who served. These are the veterans this practice represents, across every era, branch, and condition: the Vietnam vet who was told it was too late, the Gulf War vet the system called a mystery, the young veteran who walked out of a five minute exam with a zero. Different stories, same fight. The record decides the claim, so we build the record.
Veteran Representation
Veteran Representation
Veteran RepresentationWatch: how the VA evaluates claims
Connecting a death to service unlocks the larger burial allowance and DIC. Know what evidence matters. Watch it once before you file and again before any exam. The VA has a duty under 38 CFR 3.159 to help you gather records, but it has no duty to argue your case for you. Take notes on what the examiner is expected to ask, then make sure your own records already answer it.
How VA Disability Compensation Works
