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The State Cemetery — Free for You, $1,002 for Your Spouse, and It Cannot Be Prepaid

The state veterans cemetery at Sioux Falls costs a veteran nothing for any burial option. A spouse interment is $1,002, and the same figure applies whichever option is chosen — casket, in-ground cremation or columbarium niche. The department states plainly that spouse and dependent fees cannot be prepaid and are subject to change, which means a family planning ahead cannot lock the number in.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

The state veterans cemetery at Sioux Falls costs a veteran nothing for any burial option. A spouse interment is $1,002, and the same figure applies whichever option is chosen — casket, in-ground cremation or columbarium niche. The department states plainly that spouse and dependent fees cannot be prepaid and are subject to change, which means a family planning ahead cannot lock the number in.

What it's worth: No cost for a veteran on any burial option; $1,002 for a spouse or eligible dependent — covering the gravesite or niche, a pre-placed grave liner, the headstone or niche cover and perpetual care

  • The department states there is no cost to the veteran for any burial option.
  • The department states the spouse fee as $1,002, applying to all burial options.
  • The fee covers the gravesite or columbarium niche, a pre-placed grave liner, the headstone or niche cover, and perpetual care.
  • The department states that fees for a spouse or eligible dependent cannot be prepaid and are subject to change.
  • Three interment methods are offered: casket burial with an upright headstone, in-ground cremation with a granite headstone, and an above-ground columbarium niche with a granite cover.
  • Committal services run Monday to Friday with seven slots a day, allocated first come, first served.
  • Eligible dependants are stated as spouses and surviving spouses of eligible veterans, minor children of an eligible veteran, and certain unmarried disabled adult children of an eligible veteran.

Who is entitled to it

  • Your discharge characterisation is within the range these run on.
  • 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. 1Budget the $1,002 for a spouse now, and budget it as a moving number. The department says the fee cannot be prepaid and is subject to change, so a plan written today against today's figure is a plan with an open end.
  2. 2Note that the figure does not vary by option. Casket, in-ground cremation and columbarium niche are all quoted the same for a spouse, so cost is not a reason to choose one over another.
  3. 3Understand what the fee buys before comparing it with a commercial quote: the site or niche, a pre-placed grave liner, the headstone or niche cover, and perpetual care. A private cemetery charges each of those separately.
  4. 4Ring early on the day arrangements start. Committal services run Monday to Friday, seven slots a day, first come first served — the slot, not the eligibility, is usually what constrains the date.
  5. 5Ask about the disabled adult child route if it applies. The department names certain unmarried disabled adult children as eligible dependants, and families rarely raise it.
  6. 6Keep this separate in your head from the state burial allowance and the headstone setting reimbursement, which are different claims made to your county or tribal veterans service officer.
Form
Arrangements made by the funeral director or the next of kin with the cemetery
File with
The state Department of Veterans Affairs, at the cemetery at Sioux Falls
Documents you will need
dd214
No renewal
Once granted it does not need renewing.
Worth knowingThe inability to prepay is the operative problem, not the amount. Families who prepay a commercial plot assume they can do the same here; they cannot, and the money has to be available at the time of death.
CorrectionA veteran being buried free does not make the whole plot free. The spouse interment is charged separately and at a four-figure sum, and that is the assumption that catches families out.
Known gapThe department does not publish a residency requirement or the statutory section governing the cemetery on the pages read. Confirm both with the cemetery if either matters to your plan.

Sources

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