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Two Gold Star Plates Free — For a Mother, a Father or a Spouse, and Not for a Sibling or Child

A person eligible for a Gold Star Mothers, Gold Star Fathers or Gold Star Spouses plate may receive up to two of them free of charge, and may buy more at the ordinary special military plate fee. Gold Star Siblings and Gold Star Sons or Daughters plates exist in the same regulation but sit outside the free-of-charge subsection. Eligibility is proved with a Report of Casualty, DD Form 1300, filed with the state veterans department.

Verified August 27, 2026

What this benefit is

A person eligible for a Gold Star Mothers, Gold Star Fathers or Gold Star Spouses plate may receive up to two of them free of charge, and may buy more at the ordinary special military plate fee. Gold Star Siblings and Gold Star Sons or Daughters plates exist in the same regulation but sit outside the free-of-charge subsection. Eligibility is proved with a Report of Casualty, DD Form 1300, filed with the state veterans department.

What it's worth: Up to two plates free for a mother, father or spouse; further plates $23, and sibling or child plates $28

  • The free-of-charge language covers the plate. Ordinary registration and county clerk charges are set elsewhere in KRS Chapter 186 and no figure is claimed for them here.
  • Additional Gold Star Mothers, Fathers or Spouses plates beyond the two free ones cost $23 initial and $23 renewal, under KRS 186.162(2)(d).
  • Gold Star Siblings and Gold Star Sons or Daughters plates cost $28 initial and $28 renewal, under KRS 186.162(2)(ab). Ten dollars of each goes to the veterans' program trust fund.
  • So a sibling or a child of the fallen pays more per plate than a parent or spouse pays for their third — and gets none free.

Who is entitled to it

  • The plate is issued to the family of a member who died in service.
  • 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. 1Get the Report of Casualty. 601 KAR 9:130 Section 13(2) names DD Form 1300 as the single proof, and points at the National Personnel Records Center as where to get it.
  2. 2Send it to the Kentucky Department of Veterans’ Affairs, not to the clerk. The regulation routes eligibility through the veterans department; the clerk issues the plate afterwards.
  3. 3Know which of the three plates you are asking for. A Gold Star Mother plate is for a mother whose son or daughter died while serving; a Gold Star Father plate for a father in the same position; a Gold Star Spouse plate for the spouse of a person who died while serving.
  4. 4Ask for both free plates at once if you own or lease two vehicles. KRS 186.041(6) allows up to two free of charge, and more by paying the same annual fee as an ordinary special military-related plate.
  5. 5Make a separate application for each vehicle. 601 KAR 9:130 Section 16 requires an individual application for every motor vehicle a special plate is issued for.
  6. 6If you are a sibling or a child of the person who died, ask for the Gold Star Siblings or Gold Star Sons or Daughters plate by name — those categories exist under KRS 186.164(16)(a) but the free-of-charge subsection does not name them, so ask the clerk what the plate costs before assuming it is free.
  7. 7The sibling definition is wide: KRS 186.164(16)(a)14 reaches a sibling by blood, by half-blood, by adoption, or a stepsibling. The sons and daughters category reaches a stepparent’s death as well as a parent’s.
Form
Report of Casualty, DD Form 1300, filed with the state veterans department; then the special plate application at the county clerk
File with
County clerk in your county of residence, after the veterans department confirms eligibility
Documents you will need
dd214
Annual
Claimed once a year.
CorrectionFive Gold Star plate categories exist; only three of them are free. KRS 186.041(6) names Mothers, Fathers and Spouses. The Siblings plate and the Sons or Daughters plate were added through KRS 186.164(16)(a) and the free-of-charge subsection was not widened to reach them, so a bereaved brother or daughter should expect to pay.
Worth knowingThe statutory hook is membership eligibility in a private organisation — the Gold Star Mothers of America and the Gold Star Wives of America — rather than a test written into the statute. Those organisations set their own membership rules, and remarriage is the condition most likely to matter, so ask the veterans department how it applies the test to your case before assuming either way.
Worth knowingThis finder asks how you are related to the person who served and offers surviving spouse or dependant. A bereaved mother or father is squarely inside KRS 186.041(6) without being inside that list, and should apply on the statute rather than on this record.

Sources

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