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burialstateYou appear to qualify

The State Burial Allowance Is $1,800 and Is Not a Veterans Programme

Social services pays funeral and burial expenses for certain assistance recipients and for indigent persons with no legally liable relative able to pay. The maximum is $1,800 and the page names no veteran, no service and no preference.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

Social services pays funeral and burial expenses for certain assistance recipients and for indigent persons with no legally liable relative able to pay. The maximum is $1,800 and the page names no veteran, no service and no preference.

What it's worth: $1,800 maximum, general-population, effective 1 July 2024

  • The department pays funeral and burial expenses of certain state assistance recipients and of indigent persons who have no legally liable relative able to pay the cost of a proper funeral and burial.
  • The maximum payment is $1,800, effective 1 July 2024.
  • Applications must be made within one year of the date of death, and may be filed by the funeral director, a family member, or anyone who made the funeral arrangements.
  • Payment can only be made to the funeral director, cemetery or crematory. Family members and individuals cannot be reimbursed or paid directly.
  • The $1,800 is reduced by liquid assets, life insurance proceeds, funeral funds, prepaid contracts and contributions above $3,400.
  • Veterans are not named anywhere on the department’s page, and there is no veteran preference, uplift or separate route within it.

Who is entitled to it

  • 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.

From what you have told us so far, you appear to qualify.

How to claim it

Deadline: Within one year of the date of death
  1. 1Check the federal VA burial allowance and the free burial at a state veterans cemetery first. For a veteran those are usually the larger entitlements and they are separate from this.
  2. 2If this programme is still needed, have the funeral director file — payment can only go to the funeral director, cemetery or crematory.
  3. 3Watch the offsets. Life insurance, prepaid contracts and contributions above $3,400 all reduce the $1,800 before anything is paid.
  4. 4File within one year of the death.
File with
Department of Social Services
No renewal
Once granted it does not need renewing.
CorrectionA general burial allowance is often repeated as though it were a veterans benefit. It is not. It is means-tested social services law with a $1,800 ceiling, and it is recorded here as general-population law so it can never be counted as something service earned.

Sources

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