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burialstateYou appear to qualify

Burial Assistance Is $1,000 and Has Nothing to Do With Service

The District’s burial assistance programme pays up to $1,000 for burial or cremation where the deceased’s liquid assets did not exceed $1,000. The section never mentions veterans, and it states in terms that it creates no entitlement.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

The District’s burial assistance programme pays up to $1,000 for burial or cremation where the deceased’s liquid assets did not exceed $1,000. The section never mentions veterans, and it states in terms that it creates no entitlement.

What it's worth: Up to $1,000, general-population, subject to appropriations

  • Emergency assistance of up to a maximum of $1,000 is available for burial and cremation services where the liquid assets of the deceased at the time of death did not exceed $1,000.
  • The programme is subject to the availability of appropriations, and the section provides that nothing in the subchapter creates an entitlement to burial assistance for any person.
  • Veterans, military service and survivors are not mentioned anywhere in the section. There is no veteran route, preference or uplift inside it.

Who is entitled to it

  • Your home is in the District.

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: Ask the agency — the section sets none
  1. 1Treat this as the general safety-net programme it is, and apply on the same footing as any other resident.
  2. 2Check the federal VA burial allowance and the federal national cemetery entitlement first — for a veteran those are usually the larger numbers, and they are separate from this.
  3. 3Note the asset test is on the DECEASED’s liquid assets at death, not the family’s.
  4. 4Ask about appropriations before relying on it. The section says plainly that it creates no entitlement.
File with
Department of Human Services
No renewal
Once granted it does not need renewing.
CorrectionThis record is here so the burial question gets an honest answer. The District runs no veterans cemetery of its own and §4-1001 is not a veterans programme — it is general-population emergency assistance with a $1,000 ceiling and a $1,000 asset test. It is not counted as a veteran benefit here for that reason.

Sources

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