burialstate

Line of Duty Act Burial Payment — Guard and Defense Force Members Are Inside It

Where a Virginia National Guard or Virginia Defense Force member dies on official state duty or Title 32 federal duty, the Line of Duty Act pays the funeral home directly for burial and transportation — up to $15,000 and $1,000 — as an advance against a $100,000 line-of-duty death benefit. Families rarely look here because the Act reads as a police and fire statute.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

What it's worth: Up to $15,000 of burial expenses and $1,000 of transportation paid to the funeral home, against a $100,000 death benefit

§9.1-402.1 caps what may be advanced at "the coverage amounts outlined in §65.2-512". That section sets burial expenses not exceeding $15,000 and reasonable transportation expenses for the deceased not exceeding $1,000.
Those two figures are adjusted annually for the Consumer Price Index beginning 1 January 2028, so a death after that date should be checked against the adjusted figure rather than against these.
§9.1-402 sets the death benefit at $100,000 where the line-of-duty death occurred on or after 1 January 2006. A death on or before 31 December 2005 carries $75,000.
The burial money is not additional. It is advanced from the death benefit that would be due to the beneficiary, so it reduces what the beneficiary receives later rather than adding to it.

Who is entitled to it

A serving member can settle this in advance, which is the only time it is easy to settle.
The burial payment is made at the request of the family, and the death benefit runs to the spouse and heirs.
Guard and Virginia Defense Force service on state duty or Title 32 duty is written into the definition of a deceased person.
Your home is in Virginia.

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

1Ask for it by name in the first days: payment for burial expenses under the Line of Duty Act, §9.1-402.1. The section opens by stating the General Assembly’s intent that these payments be made expeditiously, which is the language to quote if you are being slow-walked.
2Check the service the Act actually covers before assuming you are outside it. §9.1-400 includes a member of the Virginia National Guard or the Virginia Defense Force serving on official state duty or on federal duty under Title 32 of the United States Code. A drill weekend or a Governor-ordered call-up is inside that definition.
3Understand what the money is before you accept it. §9.1-402.1 advances the burial and transportation costs out of the death benefit that would be due to the beneficiary. It is a timing device, not an extra payment.
4Ask what happens if the line-of-duty determination goes the other way. The statute directs that where the death is found not to be subject to line-of-duty benefits, the sums already paid are deducted from other benefit payments due to the beneficiaries, and may be recovered from the estate.
5Give the funeral home the reference rather than paying and seeking reimbursement. The statute directs that payments be made to a funeral service provider for burial and transportation costs.
6Separately pursue the death benefit itself under §9.1-402 — $100,000 for a line-of-duty death on or after 1 January 2006 — and ask who the beneficiary is under §9.1-400: the spouse of the deceased and those entitled to take under the will, or as heirs at law where there is none.
7Keep this separate from the state veterans cemetery provisions. The burial fee the Commonwealth pays at a state-operated cemetery is a different statute with a different administrator, and a family may be inside both.

Form: A request from the family for burial expenses under the Line of Duty Act
File with: The Virginia Retirement System, through the member’s employer or command
No renewal: Once granted it does not need renewing.

CorrectionThe Line of Duty Act is filed under public safety and reads as a law-enforcement and firefighter statute, which is why Guard families skip it. The definition of "deceased person" in §9.1-400 names the Virginia National Guard and the Virginia Defense Force in terms.

CorrectionThe burial payment is an advance, not a bonus. §9.1-402.1 says it is advanced from the death benefit that would be due to the beneficiary, and that where the death is later found not to be line-of-duty the sums are deducted from other benefits due and may be recovered from the estate. Take it — but take it knowing what it is.

Worth knowingThe cap tracks workers’ compensation rather than the Line of Duty Act itself. §9.1-402.1 points at §65.2-512, and those figures are indexed to the Consumer Price Index annually from 1 January 2028, so the numbers here are a floor for later years, not a fixed schedule.

Worth knowingTitle 32 duty and state active duty both count. A member on a Governor-ordered mission and a member on federally funded Guard duty are described by the same clause.

Known gapWe did not read the Virginia Retirement System’s own Line of Duty Act claim forms or its processing guidance this session, so the practical filing route — which office receives the family’s request and what proof of duty status it wants — is not established here. Ask the member’s command and the retirement system together.

Sources

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