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Gold Star Family Plate — $25, of Which $17 Is a Donation

An immediate family member of a person who died while on active duty may hold this plate. The $25 is split by statute: $8 administers the plate and $17 is an annual donation into the veterans' donations fund.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

An immediate family member of a person who died while on active duty may hold this plate. The $25 is split by statute: $8 administers the plate and $17 is an annual donation into the veterans' donations fund.

What it's worth: $25 a year, of which $17 is a donation to the veterans' donations fund

  • The statute requires satisfactory proof that the applicant is an immediate family member of a person who died while on active duty in the United States military.
  • The fee is twenty-five dollars under §28-2402, divided as eight dollars for administration and seventeen dollars as an annual donation.
  • The administration portion goes to the state highway fund; the donation portion is deposited in the veterans' donations fund.
  • The implementation cost of the plate was met by a $32,000 donation from a charitable organisation affiliated with a professional basketball club, rather than from public money.
  • The design is settled in co-operation with mothers' support organisations.
  • The plate may be combined with a personalised plate, subject to the additional personalisation fee.
  • The statute sets no cap on the number of Gold Star family plates issued.
  • The statute does not name a remarriage condition for this plate.

Who is entitled to it

  • The plate runs to the immediate family of the person who died on active duty.
  • Your home is in this state.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

  1. 1Assemble proof that you are an immediate family member of someone who died on active duty. The statute asks for satisfactory proof and leaves the form of it to the division, so ask what they will take before you post anything.
  2. 2Budget $25 a year, not $25 once. The seventeen-dollar share is described as an annual donation, so the charge recurs at renewal.
  3. 3Know where the money goes. Two thirds of the fee funds the veterans' donations fund rather than the plate, which is worth knowing when weighing this plate against a plain registration.
  4. 4Add personalisation only if you want it. It is available on top and carries its own fee under the personalised plate section.
  5. 5Do not read the fee as a fee waiver in disguise. Unlike the valor plates in some neighbouring jurisdictions, this plate is charged.
Form
Special Plate Application (96-0143)
File with
Motor Vehicle Division
Documents you will need
dd214
Annual
Claimed once a year.
CorrectionThis plate is not free, and a family expecting the fee waiver that valor plates attract in other states will be surprised at the counter. The $25 buys the plate and funds the veterans' donations fund; it is a charitable plate with a Gold Star design, structurally speaking.
Worth knowingThe statute says immediate family member and does not define it in the section. Whether a sibling or a grandparent is inside that phrase is decided by the division, not by the text read here.

Sources

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.