If a veteran has died

There are three separate things here, with different tests and different forms. A family often qualifies for one and never learns about the others.

DIC and Survivors Pension are not both paid. VA pays the greater.

DIC, and the rule that surprises people

The obvious route is a death caused by a service-connected condition, or a death on active duty. But there is a second route that people miss entirely, because it has nothing to do with what the veteran died of.

A surviving spouse may be eligible where the veteran was rated totally disabling — including by individual unemployability — for:

• 10 years immediately before death; or
• 5 years from discharge, if the rating ran continuously from then; or
• 1 year before death, if the veteran was a former prisoner of war.

So a veteran rated 100 percent for twelve years who dies of something entirely unrelated can still leave a DIC-eligible spouse. Families routinely assume there is nothing to claim because the death certificate says cancer or a heart attack, and never apply.

A surviving spouse must also meet one of: married within 15 years of the discharge that covers the qualifying illness or injury; married at least one year; or had a child together — plus the cohabitation requirement.

A surviving child must be unmarried and under 18, or under 23 and in school, and not covered on a surviving spouse's award.

A surviving parent can be eligible — biological, adoptive or foster — subject to an income limit. This one is the least known of all.

Forms: 21P-534EZ for a veteran's death, 21P-534a for a death on active duty, and 21P-535 for a parent. VA's DIC page is the current authority.

If the death was not service connected

Two things are still worth doing.

Survivors Pension is needs-based and depends on the veteran's wartime service plus the survivor's income and net worth. It has its own rate tables, and Aid and Attendance and Housebound increases apply to it — a surviving spouse who needs help with daily living may qualify for more than the base rate. How that test works, including the 36-month look-back that makes asset restructuring a trap.

A claim that the death was service connected is a claim like any other. If a service-connected condition contributed to the death — not necessarily caused it — that is a theory worth having an accredited representative look at. It needs the same thing every claim needs: a reasoned medical opinion rather than a diagnosis list.

Burial benefits

Separate from both, and partly automatic. VA's burial benefits page covers the allowance, the plot allowance and transportation, and eligibility for burial in a national cemetery. There are time limits on some of it, so it is worth reading early rather than after the funeral.

Something that is not a benefit, and matters anyway

If the veteran had a claim pending when they died, it does not automatically disappear. A survivor may be able to substitute into that claim and continue it. That is a technical area with its own deadline, and it is a good reason to speak to an accredited representative early rather than starting over with a new claim.

Before anyone charges you

Nobody may charge to prepare or file an initial claim for VA benefits. Survivor benefits attract the same predatory selling as Aid and Attendance, often aimed at someone who has just lost a spouse. Accredited representation is free and the directory is public.

Reviewed October 6, 2026