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$3,000 for a Survivor of a Hostile-Action Death

A one-off state payment of $3,000 to the survivors of military personnel killed in action through terrorist acts or hostile activities during recognised wartime service. It is separate from the $100 war participation bonuses and from the older $1,000 survivor payments, and it is much larger than either.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

A one-off state payment of $3,000 to the survivors of military personnel killed in action through terrorist acts or hostile activities during recognised wartime service. It is separate from the $100 war participation bonuses and from the older $1,000 survivor payments, and it is much larger than either.

What it's worth: $3,000 one-off payment to survivors of a service member killed in action through terrorist acts or hostile activities during recognised wartime service

  • The department describes the payment as global war on terrorism survivors compensation, at $3,000.
  • The qualifying event is a death in action through terrorist acts or hostile activities during recognised wartime service.
  • Separate and smaller survivor payments of $1,000 exist for a Second World War death from hostile action and for a Vietnam veteran whose service-connected death is attributed to herbicide exposure.
  • The department publishes no residency test or filing deadline on this page.

Who is entitled to it

  • You are in the survivor class this payment is written for.
  • You are 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. 1Establish how the death was characterised before anything else. Everything here turns on a death in action through terrorist acts or hostile activities, and that is a documents question — a casualty report, the federal determination — not a description.
  2. 2File through a veteran service officer rather than alone. Survivor claims turn on federal characterisations that officers read every week and families read once.
  3. 3Do not confuse this with the $100 war participation bonuses. Those are for the service member's own service; this is a survivor payment at thirty times the amount.
  4. 4Check the older survivor payments too if they might apply in your family. A Second World War hostile-action death and a Vietnam herbicide-attributed death each carry $1,000 on separate routes.
  5. 5Bring proof of your relationship to the deceased as a document — a marriage or birth certificate — rather than as an assertion.
  6. 6Ask the department in writing whether the payment is shared where there is more than one survivor. That is not published and it decides what each person actually receives.
Form
Claim through the state Department of Veterans' Affairs, usually on the war bonus application route
File with
The state Department of Veterans' Affairs, through a veteran service officer
Documents you will need
dd214
No renewal
Once granted it does not need renewing.
CorrectionThe state runs several payments with confusingly similar names and wildly different amounts: $100 bonuses for service, $50 a month for captivity, $1,000 for two specific historical death categories, and this $3,000. A family that finds one of them frequently stops looking.
Known gapThe department publishes no residency requirement, no filing deadline and no definition of "survivors" for this payment. All three are questions for a service officer before a claim is drafted.

Sources

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