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The Supplemental Burial Allowance — Up to $6,000, and Only for a Combat Death

The state pays up to $6,000 towards funeral and interment costs the federal government did not cover, to the family member who actually bore them. The eligibility test is unusually tight: the death must have been in a combat zone, while drawing hazardous duty pay, or from wounds sustained in either.

Verified August 22, 2026

What this benefit is

What it's worth: Up to $6,000 towards funeral and interment costs not met by the federal government

The service member must have been a resident of this state at death, OR have been a member of this state's Army or Air National Guard when they entered the active duty status during which they died — either route works.
The claimant must be a family member who bore part or all of the funeral or interment costs.
The state figure is supplemental: what the federal VA already paid is deducted, which is why the department asks for that figure in the application.

Who is entitled to it

The service member's death is connected to a combat zone or to hazardous duty.
Your home is in New York.

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

1Establish the character of the death first, because everything turns on it: a combat zone death, a death while receiving hazardous duty pay, or a death from wounds sustained in either. A casualty report or the death certificate is the usual proof.
2Establish the connection to this state — residency at death, or membership of this state's Army or Air National Guard when the fatal period of active duty began.
3Gather the receipts showing what YOU paid. The allowance goes to the family member who bore the cost, so invoices in someone else's name will not carry your claim.
4Get the figure for what the federal VA paid towards the funeral and interment. The state payment sits on top of it, and the application asks for it directly.
5Prove the family relationship with a document — a marriage certificate, a birth certificate — rather than by assertion.
6Book time with one of the department's benefits advisers before filing. This is a claim families make once, under pressure, and the advisers do it constantly.

Form: Supplemental Burial Allowance Application
File with: The state Department of Veterans' Services
Documents you will need: dd214
No renewal needed

CorrectionThis is the most commonly misdescribed benefit in the state's catalogue. It is not a burial allowance for veterans. A veteran who served in a combat zone decades ago and dies of old age is outside it; the death itself has to be the combat-connected event.

Worth knowingThe National Guard route is a genuine widening and is easy to miss. A guard member who entered federal active duty from this state and died on it qualifies the family even if the member had by then made a home elsewhere.

Worth knowingBecause the payment is supplemental, keeping careful account of what the federal VA paid is not bureaucratic tidiness — it sets the size of the state cheque.

Known gapThe department publishes no filing deadline for this allowance and does not say whether more than one family member may share it where costs were split. Ask a benefits adviser before dividing receipts among relatives.

Sources

authority · published policyDepartment of Veterans' Services — State Supplemental Burial Allowance (citing Executive Law article 17, §354-b)
operating · published policyDepartment of Veterans' Services — Supplemental Burial Allowance application form

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