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Gold Star Family Plate — Eleven Relationships Qualify, and Renewal Is Free

Issued to a qualified family member of someone who lost their life in the line of duty. The list runs well past the widow: parents, stepparents, foster parents in loco parentis, children, stepchildren, siblings, half-siblings, grandparents and grandchildren all appear on it.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

Issued to a qualified family member of someone who lost their life in the line of duty. The list runs well past the widow: parents, stepparents, foster parents in loco parentis, children, stepchildren, siblings, half-siblings, grandparents and grandchildren all appear on it.

What it's worth: A sequential Gold Star Family plate, with no additional fee at renewal

  • The registration manual states the plates are issued to qualified family members whose relative lost their life in the line of duty while serving in the armed forces.
  • The death must have occurred during wartime; or during an international terrorist attack recognised by the U.S. Secretary of Defense as an attack against the country or a friendly foreign nation; or during military operations while serving outside the country, including commonwealths, territories and possessions; or while assigned to a force engaged in a peacekeeping operation authorised by the United Nations Security Council.
  • The manual lists eleven qualified family members: widow or widower, biological parent, adoptive parent, stepparent, foster parent in loco parentis, biological child, stepchild, sibling, half sibling, grandparent and grandchild.
  • The plates must be assigned to a state-registered vehicle owned by the qualified family member.
  • They are available in a sequential series only, through the Special Processing Unit at department headquarters.
  • An original application needs the Special Recognition License Plate Application (REG 17A), the Report of Casualty (DD 1300), a Project: Gold Star License Plate Application certified by a local county veterans service official, and the fees due.
  • Existing personalised plates may be exchanged for personalised Gold Star Family plates for a fee.
  • There is no additional fee for renewal.
  • An additional fee is required to reassign the plates. The plates cannot be retained.
  • On a transfer of ownership the plates remain with the owner and the transfer is processed as usual.
  • The manual states the fees are due but does not name an amount for the original issuance, and no remarriage condition appears in the section.

Who is entitled to it

  • The plate runs to a qualified family member of the fallen service member.
  • Your home is in California.

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. 1Go to your county veterans service office before you go to the DMV. The Project: Gold Star application has to be certified there, and that certification is the step that takes time.
  2. 2Get the Report of Casualty. It is named specifically, and a death certificate is not offered as a substitute.
  3. 3Read the eleven-name list before deciding you do not qualify. Grandparents, grandchildren, half-siblings and foster parents in loco parentis are all on it, and most people assume the plate stops at the widow.
  4. 4Register the vehicle in your own name first — the plates must be assigned to a state-registered vehicle owned by the qualified family member.
  5. 5Apply through the Special Processing Unit or bring the plates from the vehicle to a field office. This plate is not issued over the ordinary online counter.
  6. 6Do not plan to keep the plate off the vehicle. The manual states in terms that it cannot be retained.
Form
Special Recognition License Plate Application (REG 17A)
File with
DMV Special Processing Unit, Sacramento — or a field office
Documents you will need
dd214
No renewal needed
CorrectionThe qualifying-death list is narrower than "died on active duty". It is four defined circumstances — wartime, a recognised international terrorist attack, operations outside the country, or a United Nations-authorised peacekeeping force. A line-of-duty death at a domestic post does not obviously sit inside any of them.
Worth knowingFree renewal and a paid reassignment is an unusual combination. Keeping the plate on one vehicle indefinitely costs nothing extra; moving it to the next car does. Families changing vehicles often should budget for that rather than expecting the whole plate to be free.

Sources

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