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Gold Star Family and Next-of-Kin Plates — and the Plates a Widow May Keep

A family member eligible for the Gold Star Lapel Button may be issued Gold Star Family plates; a family member eligible for the Next-of-Kin of Deceased Personnel Lapel Button may be issued next-of-kin plates. Separately, the surviving spouse of an eligible veteran may keep the special plates already issued to the veteran — but only while unremarried, and never the "DV" plates.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

What it's worth: Gold Star Family plates on a DD Form 3, next-of-kin plates on a DD Form 1300, and retention of a deceased veteran’s special plates while the surviving spouse remains unremarried

Section 61-3-458(1)(b)(i) lets a family member eligible for or holding a "Gold Star Lapel Button" be issued special gold star family license plates.
Section 61-3-458(1)(b)(ii) lets a family member eligible for or holding a "Next-of-Kin of Deceased Personnel Lapel Button" be issued special next-of-kin license plates.
Subsection (3)(a) requires a department of defense form 3 (DD Form 3) or its successor, or documents showing eligibility for the Gold Star Lapel Button under Public Law 534, 89th Congress.
Subsection (3)(b) requires a department of defense form 1300 (DD Form 1300) or its successor, or documents showing eligibility for the Next-of-Kin of Deceased Personnel Lapel Button under 32 CFR 578.63.
Both subsections open with the same condition: the applicant pays all applicable motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer or pole trailer registration fees AND the special license plate fees. These plates are recognition, not a fee waiver.
The gold star plate is inscribed with a blue-bordered gold star and the words "Gold Star Family" beneath the registration number.
The next-of-kin plate is inscribed as determined by the department in consultation with the Montana department of military affairs.
Subsection (5) lets the surviving spouse of an eligible veteran, if the spouse has not remarried, retain the special license plates issued to the deceased veteran, on paying the veterans’ cemetery fee in 61-3-459 and all applicable registration fees.
Subsection (5) excludes from that retention the special "DV" plates under subsection (4)(b) and the DV/combat-wounded combination plates under subsection (4)(i).
Special military, veteran, gold star family or next-of-kin plates may not be issued for a quadricycle, semitrailer or pole trailer.
These plates may be issued bearing a wheelchair symbol to a person who separately qualifies under 61-3-332(9).

Who is entitled to it

You are a surviving family member of a servicemember or veteran.
Your home is in this state.
The remarriage condition does not stand in your way.
This condition only applies to a surviving spouse.
You have not remarried, so the benefit carries over to you.

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

1Work out which lapel button you are eligible for before you go. Gold Star Family plates run off the Gold Star Lapel Button; next-of-kin plates run off the Next-of-Kin of Deceased Personnel Lapel Button. They are different buttons with different plates behind them.
2Bring the DD Form 3 for the Gold Star route, or the DD Form 1300 for the next-of-kin route. The statute also accepts other documents showing eligibility for the button, so a determination letter is worth carrying if you do not hold the form.
3Budget for the fees. The statute conditions both plates on paying all applicable registration fees and the special plate fees — nothing here is issued free.
4If you are a surviving spouse and your late husband or wife already held special veteran plates, ask to retain those rather than reapplying. Subsection (5) lets you keep them on paying the cemetery fee and the ordinary registration fees.
5Understand the two limits on that retention. It lasts only while you have not remarried, and it does not extend to the "DV" plates or to the DV/combat-wounded combination plates — those go back.
6Note that grief has no deadline here. Nothing in the section puts a time limit on when a family member may first apply.

Form: Special plate application at the county treasurer’s motor vehicle office
File with: County treasurer, on behalf of the Motor Vehicle Division
Annual: Claimed once a year.

CorrectionGold Star plates are widely described as free. Subsection (3) opens by requiring payment of all applicable registration fees AND the special license plate fees before either plate may be issued. The recognition is free of charge only in the sense that no extra recognition fee is invented — the ordinary money is still due.

Worth knowingRemarriage is the hinge. A surviving spouse keeps the deceased veteran’s special plates only while unremarried. Nothing in the section says the same about the Gold Star Family plate itself, which runs off the lapel button rather than off marital status — so a remarried Gold Star spouse should ask about the gold star route rather than assuming the door has closed.

Known gapThe section says "family member" without defining it for the gold star and next-of-kin routes, deferring instead to the federal lapel button rules. Who counts is therefore settled by federal eligibility for the button, not by anything in this chapter.

Sources

authority · statuteMont. Code Ann. §61-3-458 — special plates for military personnel, veterans, spouses, and gold star families

Why only one source type: The section was read verbatim this session and states eligibility, documentation, fees and the retention rule in its own text; no agency gloss is needed to establish any of it.

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