Veterans Alliance is privately owned and operated to serve veterans. We are not affiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Veterans Alliance — Veterans Alliance
← All Connecticut benefits
burialstate

Setting a Federal Marker in a Private Cemetery — Partial Reimbursement, Two Clocks

The state partially reimburses the cost of installing a Veterans Affairs-provided marker in a private cemetery. The vendor — usually the cemetery or funeral director — claims it on form CMS-3 within two years of the death, and payment must be requested within one year of certification.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

The state partially reimburses the cost of installing a Veterans Affairs-provided marker in a private cemetery. The vendor — usually the cemetery or funeral director — claims it on form CMS-3 within two years of the death, and payment must be requested within one year of certification.

What it's worth: Partial reimbursement of the cost of installing a federal marker in a private cemetery

  • The state provides a PARTIAL reimbursement of the cost to install a Veterans Affairs-provided marker in a private cemetery. The amount is not published on the department’s page, and no figure is asserted here.
  • The claim is made by the vendor seeking reimbursement for the installation — usually the cemetery or the funeral director — on behalf of the deceased veteran’s family, not by the family directly.
  • The vendor completes DVA form CMS-3, Request for Reimbursement, within TWO YEARS of the date of death of the eligible veteran.
  • Payment must then be requested within ONE YEAR of the date of certification. Missing the second clock loses the money even if the first was met.
  • The supporting documents are a copy of the shipping document showing the headstone was received, or a photograph of the monument, together with a certification of installation.
  • This is separate from burial at a state veterans cemetery, where the department charges eligible veterans nothing for burial and provides government grave markers at no charge.

Who is entitled to it

  • State burial and memorial programmes here turn on an honourable or under-honourable-conditions discharge.
  • 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

Deadline: Within two years of the date of death
  1. 1Raise it with the funeral director or cemetery at the time of arrangements, and ask them in writing whether they will file the CMS-3. The claim is theirs to make, and it will not be made if nobody asks.
  2. 2Keep the shipping document that shows the marker was received, or photograph the monument once it is set. One of the two is required.
  3. 3Get the certification of installation from whoever set the marker, and diary the date — the one-year payment clock runs from it.
  4. 4Diary the two-year date of death deadline separately. The two clocks are independent and both must be met.
  5. 5Call Cemetery and Memorial Services on 860-616-3688 before the two-year point if the vendor has gone quiet.
Form
DVA Form CMS-3 — Request for Reimbursement
File with
Department of Veterans Affairs, Cemetery and Memorial Services, 287 West Street, Rocky Hill
Documents you will need
dd214
No renewal
Once granted it does not need renewing.
Worth knowingThe department’s page does not state the reimbursement amount, and the statutory basis could not be read this session because the General Statutes host refused every connection. Ask for the current rate in writing before agreeing an installation price.
Worth knowingThe state operates three cemeteries: the Middletown State Veterans Cemetery, which holds over 16,000 veterans and family members; the Colonel Raymond F. Gates Cemetery at Rocky Hill, reserved for veterans residing at the state residential and skilled nursing facilities unless the commissioner makes an exception; and Spring Grove Veterans Cemetery at Darien, closed to new burials but under perpetual care.

Sources

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