VA Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC): 2026 Rates and Eligibility

Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) is the VA benefit that replaces the disability compensation a veteran was, or should have been, receiving. VA describes it as "a tax-free monetary benefit." It is paid by the Veterans Benefits Administration, not the Department of Defense. It is separate from military retirement, the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) and Social Security.

The law behind it is 38 U.S.C. 1310, Title 38 of the United States Code. It says that when a veteran "dies after December 31, 1956, from a service-connected or compensable disability," VA "shall pay dependency and indemnity compensation to such veteran's surviving spouse, children, and parents." A second statute, 38 U.S.C. 1318, extends DIC to survivors of veterans who were rated totally disabled for long enough before death, even if the death itself was not service connected. The regulations are 38 CFR 3.5 (DIC) and 38 CFR 3.22 (the 1318 rules), in Title 38 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

DIC is one of several survivor benefits. The broad picture, including burial benefits and life insurance, is in the survivor benefits guide. This page covers VA DIC benefits in full: rates, eligibility, the application and what DIC unlocks.

VA adjusts DIC each December with the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). The rates below are effective December 1, 2025 and apply to survivors of veterans who died on or after January 1, 1993. If the veteran died before that date, VA uses a separate pay-grade table on the same page.

Surviving spouse

Source: https://www.va.gov/family-and-caregiver-benefits/survivor-compensation/dependency-indemnity-compensation/survivor-rates/, effective December 1, 2025.

Take a spouse with 1 child under 18 who is also eligible for the 8-year provision. That spouse receives $1,699.36 + $360.85 + $421.00 + $359.00 = $2,840.21 a month for the first 2 years, then $2,481.21 until the child turns 18.

Children only (no eligible surviving spouse)

Source: https://www.va.gov/family-and-caregiver-benefits/survivor-compensation/dependency-indemnity-compensation/survivor-rates/, effective December 1, 2025. VA's table continues past 4 children; each additional child in very large families adds $255.95, and a helpless child over 18 adds $421.

Dependent parents

Parent DIC is the only income-based form of DIC. VA sets an income limit for each household type and reduces the payment by $0.08 for every $1 of income above the lower thresholds in its table, until it reaches zero.

Source: https://www.va.gov/family-and-caregiver-benefits/survivor-compensation/dependency-indemnity-compensation/parent-rates/, effective December 1, 2025.

VA did not state the COLA percentage on its rates pages, so this guide does not quote one. The disability compensation side of the same COLA is in the 2026 disability rates page.

Every DIC claim starts with the veteran. VA's DIC page lists 3 ways a death qualifies. Survivors may be eligible if at least 1 of these is true:

1. Death on duty. The service member "died while on active duty, active duty for training, or inactive-duty training."
2. Service-connected death. The veteran "died from a service-connected illness or injury." The condition does not have to have been rated during life. Survivors can show service connection after death with medical evidence, or
3. The 1318 rule (totally disabled before death). The veteran did not die from a service-connected condition but was eligible for compensation for a service-connected disability rated totally disabling, and that rating lasted:
   • at least 10 years immediately before death, or
   • since release from active duty and at least 5 years immediately before death, or
   • at least 1 year immediately before death, if the veteran was a former prisoner of war (POW). VA's page adds that the POW died after September 30, 1999.

"Totally disabling" includes a 100% schedular rating and Total Disability based on Individual Unemployability (TDIU); the total disability guide explains both. The 10-year rule is the one survivors search for most. It is a continuous rating that matters, not a lifetime total, and the years must run right up to the date of death.

Under 38 U.S.C. 1310(b), DIC is not payable unless the veteran was discharged "under conditions other than dishonorable" from the period of service in which the disability began or worsened, or died on active duty.

Watch out: A veteran's rating may have been below 100% at death while the death certificate lists a service-connected condition as a cause or contributing cause. VA treats that as a service-connected death claim, not a 1318 claim. Where the link is not obvious on the certificate, VA looks for medical evidence, such as a doctor's report, that connects the cause of death to the service-connected condition.

You may be eligible as a surviving spouse if both of these sets of conditions on VA's page are true.

Living together. You "lived with the veteran or service member without a break until their death," or, if you were separated, you "weren't at fault for the separation."

How the marriage counts. At least 1 of these is true:

• You married within 15 years of the veteran's discharge from the period of service in which the qualifying illness or injury "started or got worse," or
• You were married for at least 1 year, or
• You had a child with the veteran.

Remarriage. This is the rule the old version of this page got wrong, so here it is in full. Remarriage ends DIC unless:

• you remarried on or after December 16, 2003 and were 57 or older at the time, or
• you remarried on or after January 5, 2021 and were 55 or older at the time.

The age-55 rule is the current one. If you remarried at 55 or 56 before January 5, 2021, that marriage did not preserve DIC under the older 57 rule, but the next rule may help. Under 38 CFR 3.55(a)(3), a remarriage "terminated by death, divorce, or annulment, will not bar the furnishing of dependency and indemnity compensation." The exception is where VA finds the divorce or annulment was obtained through fraud or collusion. So a spouse who remarried young, lost DIC and is later widowed or divorced again can reapply.

Watch out: Tell VA when you remarry. DIC paid after a disqualifying remarriage is an overpayment VA will collect. If you are 55 or older, the marriage does not affect DIC, but VA still needs the date.

Children. A child can receive DIC in 2 ways: as an add-on to the surviving spouse's payment, or in their own right when there is no eligible spouse. VA's conditions for a child's own claim are that the child is not married, is "not included on the surviving spouse's compensation," and is under 18, or under 23 if attending school. Adopted children are eligible on the same terms. VA's rate table also carries a "helpless child" rate for a child over 18 who cannot support themselves because of a disability. When several children are eligible and there is no spouse, VA divides the total equally. That is why the per-child rate falls as the number of children rises.

Parents. A "biological, adoptive, or foster parent" of the veteran can receive parent DIC if their income is below the limit in the table above. Parents file on VA Form 21P-535, not the 534EZ. Because the income limits are low, parent DIC mainly reaches parents on a small fixed income.

VA Form 21P-534EZ is the Application for DIC, Survivors Pension, and/or Accrued Benefits. 1 form covers all 3. VA can consider you for Survivors Pension and for any benefits the veteran was owed but had not been paid at death (accrued benefits) at the same time.

1. Pick the right form. Spouse or child of a veteran: VA Form 21P-534EZ. Spouse or child of a service member who died on active duty: VA Form 21P-534a, usually completed with a casualty assistance officer. Parent: VA Form 21P-535.
2. Gather the documents. VA asks for "documents like military service records, doctor's reports, and medical test results" that show how the death qualifies. The usual set is the death certificate, the marriage certificate, birth certificates for children and the veteran's DD214. For a service-connected death claim, VA also looks for medical records that connect the cause of death to a service-connected condition.
3. Accrued benefits. The form also asks about accrued benefits. If the veteran had a claim or appeal pending at death, VA can consider whether benefits were owed but unpaid at death.
4. File. VA lists 4 routes: through an accredited attorney, claims agent or Veterans Service Organization (VSO) representative; online with the QuickSubmit tool; by mail to the Pension Intake Center, PO Box 5365, Janesville, WI 53547-5365; or in person at a regional office. Accredited VSO help is free.
5. Watch the 1-year mark. Under 38 CFR 3.400(c)(2), DIC is effective the "first day of the month in which the veteran's death occurred if claim is received within 1 year after the date of death; otherwise, date of receipt of claim." Filing at month 13 forfeits a year of payments.
6. Respond to any VA letter. VA may schedule nothing, or it may ask for a medical opinion on cause of death. Reply by the date in the letter.

Does back pay go to the original date? The effective date is the day VA starts owing the benefit, and back pay runs from that date to the day payments begin. For DIC, that is the first day of the month of death when the claim arrives within 1 year. If a DIC claim is denied and a decision review is filed within 1 year of the decision, the original effective date is kept. The VA disability appeal guide explains that rule.

VA does not publish an average processing time for DIC claims on its DIC pages. Check the status on VA.gov after you file.

A DIC award is usually a key to 4 more benefits, because each keys off the same facts: a service-connected death or a permanent and total rating.

• CHAMPVA, the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs, is health coverage for the surviving spouse and dependent children of a veteran "who died from a service-connected disability" or was "rated permanently and totally disabled from a service-connected disability" at death. It also covers survivors of a service member who died in the line of duty. You cannot use CHAMPVA if you are eligible for TRICARE. Details in the CHAMPVA guide.
• Survivors' and Dependents' Educational Assistance (Chapter 35) pays for school or training if the veteran "died as a result of a service-connected disability" or was permanently and totally disabled. Up to 36 months of benefits for training that started on or after August 1, 2018. Spouses whose qualifying event is on or after August 1, 2023 have no time limit to use it. See the Chapter 35 guide.
• VA home loan eligibility for a surviving spouse whose veteran died in service or from a service-connected disability, if you did not remarry, or remarried at 57 or older on or after December 16, 2003. DIC recipients request a Certificate of Eligibility with VA Form 26-1817.
• Burial benefits including a burial allowance and a headstone or marker; see burial and memorial benefits.

Property-tax exemptions come from your state, not VA, and are covered below.

DIC and SBP. For years the Survivor Benefit Plan paid through the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) was reduced dollar for dollar by DIC, the "widow's tax." The offset was cut to one-third of DIC on January 1, 2022. Per DFAS, "On January 1, 2023, the offset was completely eliminated." From the February 2023 payment, surviving spouses "receive their full Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) payment from DFAS and their full Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) payment from the VA." The Special Survivor Indemnity Allowance (SSIA) ended with the January 3, 2023 payment. It only existed to soften the offset.

DIC and Social Security. Spouse and child DIC has no income test, so Social Security survivor benefits, wages and pensions do not reduce it. Parent DIC is income-based, and income limits apply.

Both are paid on VA Form 21P-534EZ, and VA will consider you for both, but they answer different questions.

Source: https://www.va.gov/family-and-caregiver-benefits/survivor-compensation/ and https://www.va.gov/family-and-caregiver-benefits/survivor-compensation/dependency-indemnity-compensation/survivor-rates/, effective December 1, 2025.

DIC almost always pays more when you are eligible for both. The Survivors Pension guide has the current income limits and explains what happens when a survivor of a wartime veteran does not meet the DIC death rules.

A DIC denial usually turns on 1 fact: whether the death was service connected or the total rating lasted long enough. Both are the kind of question new evidence can change. You have 1 year from the date on the decision letter to pick a decision-review lane. A Supplemental Claim is the lane for new and relevant evidence, such as a medical opinion on the cause of death. A Higher-Level Review is the lane for an error on the existing record, such as a miscount of the years of a total rating. A Board Appeal on VA Form 10182 puts the case before a Veterans Law Judge. The VA disability appeal guide compares all 3 lanes, their deadlines and timelines. You can get free help from a VA-accredited representative with any of them.

Most states give a property-tax exemption to surviving spouses of veterans who died from service-connected causes, or who were rated 100% at death. In many states it is a full exemption on the primary home. Several states also offer tuition waivers for children and spouses, free vehicle registration, and state survivor payments. These usually require a VA letter showing DIC entitlement or the service-connected death finding, so keep your award letter.