VA survivor benefits include cash compensation, healthcare, education, and home loan benefits for the families of deceased veterans. This 2026 hub explains every program available to surviving spouses, children, and parents.
Cash benefits for survivors
- DIC (Dependency and Indemnity Compensation) — $1,699.36/month base rate in 2026 for service-connected deaths.
- Survivors Pension — income-based monthly benefit for low-income surviving spouses and children of wartime veterans.
- Accrued benefits — unpaid VA benefits the veteran was entitled to before death.
- Burial allowance — up to $2,000 for service- connected death, $1,002 for a non-service-connected death.
Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP)
SBP is a military retirement annuity option, not a VA benefit. Retirees pay into SBP from their retirement pay so that 55% continues to a surviving spouse. Since 2023, SBP and DIC can both be paid in full — the “widow's tax” offset is gone.
Healthcare for survivors
- CHAMPVA — covers spouses and children of veterans who died from a service-connected condition, or were rated permanently 100% before death. Free healthcare for eligible survivors.
- Tricare Survivor — available to spouses and children of service members who died on active duty.
Education benefits for survivors
- Chapter 35 / DEA — up to 36 months of education benefits for spouses and children of permanently disabled or deceased veterans. Pays about $1,574/month full-time in 2026.
- Fry Scholarship — Post-9/11 GI Bill-style benefits for survivors of service members who died in the line of duty after 9/11/2001. Pays tuition plus MHA.
Home loan benefits
Surviving spouses of veterans who died from a service-connected condition may qualify for the VA home loan guaranty — same terms as the veteran would receive.
Burial and memorial benefits
- Free burial in a VA national cemetery.
- Headstone or marker.
- Burial flag.
- Presidential Memorial Certificate.
- Up to $1,002 in plot or interment allowance.
How to apply for VA survivor benefits
- Notify the VA of the veteran's death.
- File VA Form 21P-534EZ for DIC, Pension, or accrued benefits.
- Apply for CHAMPVA via VA Form 10-10d.
- Apply for Chapter 35 education benefits via VA Form 22-5490.
- Apply for VA home loan COE via VA Form 26-1817.
Compare survivor benefits
Start at the VA survivor benefits hub.
VA Survivor Benefits and Remarriage: Key Rules
VA survivor benefits interact with remarriage differently depending on the specific program, and understanding each program's rules can prevent an inadvertent loss of substantial monthly income.
DIC (Dependency and Indemnity Compensation)
DIC continues after remarriage if you remarried on or after January 5, 2021 and were age 55 or older at the time. An earlier rule still protects survivors who remarried on or after December 16, 2003 at age 57 or older. Any other remarriage suspends DIC. If that later marriage ends by death, divorce, or annulment, you can apply to have DIC restored.
Survivors Pension
Survivors Pension is lost upon remarriage at any age — there is no age exception. Unlike DIC, the age of the surviving spouse at the time of remarriage is irrelevant. However, if the new marriage ends through divorce or death, Survivors Pension eligibility is restored upon a new application.
SBP (Survivor Benefit Plan)
SBP payments are lost if the surviving spouse remarries before age 55. Remarriage at 55 or older does not interrupt SBP. If a disqualifying remarriage ends, SBP is restored upon application — but restoration requires payment of all missed premiums or annuity amounts during the period of disqualification.
Divorce and Former Spouse Considerations
- A veteran's divorce does not automatically remove a former spouse from VA survivor benefit designations. The veteran must actively update beneficiary elections.
- DIC is paid to the legal surviving spouse at the time of the veteran's death — former divorced spouses do not qualify unless specific court orders and SBP elections are in place.
- CHAMPVA 20/20/20 Rule: a divorced former spouse may qualify for CHAMPVA if the marriage lasted 20 or more years, the veteran served 20 or more years, and there is a 20-year overlap between the marriage and military service.
For application procedures, see How to Apply for Survivor Benefits, DIC Benefits, and Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP).
Who qualifies for VA survivor benefits
You qualify for VA survivor benefits when the veteran died on active duty, died from a service-connected condition, or held a total disability rating for a set period before death. Those are the three doorways into DIC. Each one is proved a different way.
The three DIC eligibility pathways
- Death on active duty or during active or inactive duty training.
- Death from a service-connected condition. The condition that caused or contributed to the death must be service-connected. VA can decide service connection for the cause of death inside your claim, so the veteran did not have to win that rating while alive.
- The 100% disabled veteran pathway. The veteran was rated totally disabling for at least 10 continuous years before death. Five years works if the rating ran from the date of discharge. One year works if the veteran was a former prisoner of war who died after September 30, 1999. Under this pathway the cause of death does not have to be service-connected.
Presumptive deaths: Agent Orange, burn pits, and the PACT Act
A presumptive condition counts as service-connected without a medical nexus opinion. If the veteran died of a condition VA presumes is tied to Agent Orange, burn pits, radiation, or contaminated water, that death can support a DIC claim. The PACT Act added dozens of these conditions in 2022.
Survivors got a second chance under that law. If VA denied your DIC claim for a condition the PACT Act later made presumptive, you can file again. VA can pay you back to the date of that original claim.
Marriage rules for a surviving spouse
You must have lived with the veteran until death, or have been separated through no fault of your own. You also need one of three things: a marriage of at least one year, a marriage that began within 15 years of the veteran's discharge, or a child together.
VA recognizes a common-law marriage when the state you lived in treated it as valid. Expect to prove it with your own signed statement plus statements from people who knew you as a married couple. VA can also accept a marriage that turned out to be legally invalid if you entered it in good faith and did not know about the problem.
2026 DIC payment amounts
The 2026 DIC base rate for a surviving spouse is $1,699.36 per month, effective December 1, 2025. Add-on amounts stack on top of that base. DIC pays a flat rate, so your income and savings never change the amount.
| DIC payment element | 2026 monthly amount |
|---|---|
| Base rate, surviving spouse | $1,699.36 |
| Each child under 18 | $421.00 |
| Each child age 18 to 23 in school | $356.66 |
| 8-year provision (veteran rated totally disabling 8 full years before death, married those same 8 years) | $360.85 |
| Aid and Attendance (you need help with daily activities) | $421.00 |
| Housebound allowance | $197.22 |
| Transitional benefit, first 2 years after death, if you have a child under 18 | $359.00 |
VA raises these rates every December using the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment. The higher amount shows up in your January payment. Confirm the figures on VA's current DIC rate table before you build a budget.
DIC and SBP are now paid in full side by side. See DIC vs. SBP for how the two stack.
Income limits, Medicaid, and SSI
DIC has no income limit and no net worth limit for surviving spouses and children. Survivors Pension has both. That single difference decides which program most families land on.
- Survivors Pension net worth limit: $163,699 from December 1, 2025 through November 30, 2026. Net worth counts your assets plus your annual income. Your home, your car, and most home furnishings do not count.
- Survivors Pension income ceiling (MAPR): $11,699 a year with no dependents and $15,311 with one dependent child. Add $2,984 for each additional child. VA pays the gap between your countable income and that ceiling.
- Parents DIC is income-tested too, with limits well under $12,000 a year.
You cannot draw DIC and Survivors Pension at the same time. VA pays whichever one is worth more to you. A few narrow Medicaid situations flip that answer, so ask a VSO to run both numbers before you choose.
Tax-free is not the same as not counted
DIC is exempt from federal income tax. It can still count as income when a program tests your financial need. Those are two separate questions, and confusing them costs families benefits.
- SSI: the Social Security Administration treats VA survivor payments as unearned income. A DIC award can shrink or end an SSI check.
- Medicaid: most states count DIC as income when they test eligibility. In 35 states and the District of Columbia, SSI eligibility is Medicaid eligibility, so losing SSI can cost Medicaid too.
- Social Security survivor benefits: DIC does not reduce them, and they do not reduce DIC. You can receive both in full.
- SNAP and housing assistance: these programs generally count DIC as household income.
For the tax side in detail, see Is DIC taxable?
Nursing homes, assisted living, and long-term care
CHAMPVA covers skilled nursing care but not custodial long-term care. Custodial care means help with bathing, dressing, and eating when no skilled medical treatment is involved. That gap catches most surviving spouses by surprise.
VA nursing homes and community living centers serve veterans, not surviving spouses. Three other routes can help pay for a spouse's care.
- Aid and Attendance. This add-on raises a Survivors Pension or DIC payment when you need daily help or live in a nursing home. See Aid and Attendance for surviving spouses.
- Medicaid. Medicaid is the largest payer for long-stay nursing home care. Each state runs its own program and sets its own asset rules.
- Private long-term care insurance or private pay. Many families use these to bridge the months before Medicaid starts.
The Survivors Pension page shows how medical expenses reduce countable income. That single rule makes many otherwise ineligible spouses eligible.
Burial, cremation, headstone, and transportation benefits
VA pays a burial allowance toward funeral and burial costs, and it provides a headstone or marker at no charge. The amount depends on whether the death was service-connected. These rates took effect October 1, 2025.
| Burial benefit | Current amount |
|---|---|
| Burial allowance, service-connected death | $2,000 |
| Burial allowance, non-service-connected death | $1,002 |
| Plot or interment allowance | $1,002 |
VA treats cremated remains the same as casketed remains. National cemeteries inter them with the same honors, and the burial allowance applies either way.
Transportation of the veteran's remains
VA may reimburse the cost of moving the veteran's remains to a national, state, or tribal veterans cemetery. You may qualify if the veteran died in a VA hospital, died in a VA-contracted nursing home, or died while traveling to VA-authorized care.
Deadlines and the form
File VA Form 21P-530EZ to claim burial benefits. A service-connected death has no filing deadline. A non-service-connected death generally gives you two years from the date of burial, though plot, interment, and transportation claims have no deadline at all.
How long VA survivor benefits last
DIC for a surviving spouse continues for life unless a disqualifying remarriage stops it. There is no expiration date and no yearly re-application. Other survivor programs run on shorter clocks.
- DIC for a spouse: paid for life. A remarriage that misses the age rule suspends it, and it can be restored if that marriage ends.
- DIC for a child: ends at 18, or at 23 if the child stays in school full time. A child rated permanently incapable of self-support before age 18 keeps it with no age cutoff.
- Survivors Pension: continues while you stay unmarried and your income and net worth stay under the limits. Report income changes promptly or VA will bill you for the overpayment.
- CHAMPVA: ends for a surviving spouse who remarries before age 55. Remarriage at 55 or older keeps it.
- Chapter 35 DEA: a child generally uses it between ages 18 and 26. Training that started on or after August 1, 2018 carries up to 36 months of benefits.
Retroactive back pay
File within one year of the veteran's death and DIC is paid back to the first day of the month the veteran died. File later and payments start the day VA receives your claim. Those missed months never come back.
Two things can reach further back. A PACT Act refiling can pay to your original denied claim date. Accrued benefits cover money VA already owed the veteran but had not paid, and you claim them on the same form. Start at how to apply for survivor benefits.