Gold Star Family Plate — First Plate Free, All Fees Waived for Life
A Gold Star Family plate for the surviving parents, spouses, children or siblings of a service member killed in armed conflict — including step-parents and stepchildren. A parent's or spouse's plate carries no fee, including up to three additional plates; a child's or sibling's plate is $10.00. The registration fee is waived either way, and there are four plates per eligible family.
Verified August 27, 2026
What this benefit is
A Gold Star Family plate for the surviving parents, spouses, children or siblings of a service member killed in armed conflict — including step-parents and stepchildren. A parent's or spouse's plate carries no fee, including up to three additional plates; a child's or sibling's plate is $10.00. The registration fee is waived either way, and there are four plates per eligible family.
What it's worth: No fee for a parent's or spouse's plate; $10.00 for a child's or sibling's — registration fee waived
- Eligibility runs to surviving parents, spouses, children and siblings of service members killed in armed conflict. The record previously omitted spouses and siblings.
- A parent's or spouse's plate carries no fee, and that covers up to three additional plates as well as the first.
- A child's or sibling's plate is $10.00.
- The registration fee is waived.
- The limit is four plates per eligible family.
- This replaces an earlier description that said all fees were waived for the recipient's lifetime while also describing a $17 annual fee on the additional plates. The fee structure above is MVD's own.
Who is entitled to it
- The plate runs to the family of the member killed in combat.
- Your home is in New Mexico.
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
- 1Take proof of the relationship and of the death in combat. The eligible relationships are named narrowly: son, daughter, stepson, stepdaughter, parent or step-parent.
- 2Ask at the counter which fees are actually waived on the second, third and fourth plates. The department’s own description of the lifetime waiver and of a $17 annual fee on the further plates do not sit easily together.
- 3Count the family’s existing plates before applying. The limit is four per family, not four per person.
- 4Ask what happens on renewal — the waiver is described as lifetime for the recipient, so it should not need re-establishing each year.
- 5Keep the paperwork. A plate transferred to a new vehicle usually needs the original eligibility evidence again.
- Form
- The motor vehicle division’s special plate application
- File with
- Motor Vehicle Division, Taxation and Revenue Department
- At each renewal
- Claimed again whenever the underlying licence or registration renews.
Sources
- authority · published policyNew Mexico Department of Veterans Services — Benefits (Gold Star Family License Plate: eligible relationships, four-plate family limit, first plate free and lifetime fee waiver)
Why only one source type: Read from the state veterans department’s own benefits page. The motor vehicle division’s own plate page and the NMSA section have not been read this session, which is why the fee conflict is flagged rather than resolved.
This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.