Are you a veteran? Does your family know? The common misconception: Only those who served during wartime, were in active combat, or stayed long enough to retire are veterans. Not so.
"We have so many who don't know they are eligible (for veterans benefits) ... especially the elderly and widows, who may be living below the poverty level," said Lourdes "Alfie" Alvarado-Ramos, deputy director, Washington State Department of Veteran Affairs.
A veteran is anyone who served honorably in the military. In some circumstances, so is a civilian employed overseas. But the level of death benefits depends on several factors: whether active duty, retired, inactive or active Reserve or Guard; served in wartime or peacetime and when, where, and how long; has service-related disease or disability; survivor's age and income level; and various combinations of these.
Who can receive death benefits?
Widows, widowers, minor children, dependent disabled older children, and dependent parents over age 62 of active duty, retired, and veterans can get some level of financial and funeral assistance. So can families of inactive Reserve and Guard members who die during authorized travel to training, during training, from a disease or injury related to or aggravated by training, or if they were drawing or would have been eligible for retired pay.
What are the benefits?
Survivor's benefits can include help with funeral and burial costs, death gratuities and pensions, insurance, survivor's income, education benefits, civil service job preference, GI home loan, funeral honor guard and grave marker.
"Unfortunately, a lot of older veterans think they're going to get their burial paid for and they're not," says Washington State Funeral Director Association President Gary Mers, "unless you're active duty, on military disability, or get buried in a national cemetery."
The VA does have a burial allowance under certain conditions, though, and Washington state has funds for indigent veterans. A grave marker is nearly always provided. Retirees and their spouses and minor children can be buried in a national cemetery with most costs covered. Cremation or body preparation is at family expense. Dependents are interred in the same plot as the military member is or will be, and their headstone inscription is also at no cost.
If a retiree or veteran dies in a military or VA facility, the government pays for transportation to a local mortuary and from there to place of interment.
Funeral honors
"It's important to us to pay final respect to those who have served our country honorably," said mortuary affairs officer Capt. Shawn Campbell, McChord Air Force Base Services squadron commander. "The funeral doesn't need to be near a base. We can make arrangements by phone and mail, and we travel up to eight hours to be there. That includes scattering ashes, not just burial."
All branches of service provide funeral honors. The size of the honor guard depends upon whether the deceased was active duty, retired, or a veteran. For veterans the honor guard folds and presents the flag and plays taps. For active duty and retirees, the guard fires a salute and can also serve as pallbearers.
Financial Benefits
Low-income dependents of wartime veterans only may qualify for a VA death pension that varies to bring the household income up to a minimum level. There are 22 conditions, so check it out.
VA Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, or DIC, pays dependents a minimum of $1,033 per month under certain conditions, including death from service-related disease or disability.
"There's an offset between disability and retirement pay, so veterans don't apply because they don't want to go through the hassle," says Alex Silva, chief of Retirement Services at Fort Lewis. "But it can make a real difference to their families after they're gone." Another advantage: Application puts your DD214 in a secure and accessible file.
A portion of retired pay continues only if you have elected the Survivors Benefit Plan, or SBP.
"We're dealing mostly now with World War II and Vietnam era widows," adds Patricia George, chief of the Fort Lewis Casualty Assistance Center at Fort Lewis. "Many don't even know that their spouse declined SBP."
Plan ahead for your family's financial security
Check out the following sites. Download the benefits pages that apply to you and highlight the conditions that you meet. Add the documents needed to verify those conditions, and keep all with your file of important papers. Tell trusted family members where they are.
"Don't put wills and other important papers in a safe deposit box with just your name on it," says George Kelly, a Tacoma attorney. "It can be frozen on your death and take a special court process to get to." Kelly recommends that both your spouse and an adult child's name be on the account.
www.va.gov Click on Benefits and Burials and Memorials or call (800) 827-1000
www.cem.va.gov National cemetery burial benefits and locations; read the FAQs
www.militaryfuneralhonors.osd.mil Eligibility, approved funeral directors and other links
www.vba.va.gov/Survivors Explains the DIC and other financial and educational benefits
www.armyg1.army.mil/retire Click on SBP Open Enrollment Period www.militarybenefits.com A comprehensive list of benefits and eligibility; not as easy to navigate as the links above
www.vetrecs.archives.gov to replace a DD214; can take up to eight months
Your next of kin must have original or certified copies, not photocopies, of the following:
DD214 or certificate of discharge
Retirement pay data
Date and location of prior marriages and divorces for both spouses
Date and place of death of any prior spouse
Birth certificates for all family members
Any adoption or custody papers
Any immigration or naturalization papers
VA disability claim numbers
VA insurance policy numbers
Social Security cards
www.socialsecurity.gov lists data needed to apply for a $255 lump sum death benefit.
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