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County Veterans’ Assistance Fund — Every County Must Run One

Each county is required to levy a tax for a veterans’ assistance fund and to run an assistance programme for indigent veterans and their families out of it. The fund also pays for burial or cremation of an indigent veteran or their family member, at not less than $300.

Verified August 22, 2026

What this benefit is

What it's worth: Assistance set by your county, funded by a required levy — plus not less than $300 towards disposition of remains

The chapter does not name the services. RCW 73.08.010 sends the county legislative authority to the veterans’ advisory board to determine "the appropriate services needed for local indigent veterans", so what the fund pays for is a county decision within a state frame.
The levy floor and ceiling are statutory: not less than 1.125 cents and not greater than 27 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. The size of a county’s fund therefore varies enormously with its property base and where in that band it sets the rate.
The $300 is a statutory minimum on the disposition of remains, not a maximum. The ceiling is whatever limit the county legislative authority has established.

Who is entitled to it

The programme is written for indigent veterans.
Family is defined to include the spouse or domestic partner, surviving spouse or partner, and dependent children.
Your discharge is of a character the chapter’s definition is built around.
Your home is in Washington.

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

1Start with your county, not the state. The programme is established and run at county level; the state chapter only requires that it exist and be funded.
2Ask which of the three indigency tests you meet. Receipt of one of the listed public assistance benefits is enough on its own; so is after-tax annual income at or below 150% of the federal poverty level, or a higher figure your county has adopted; so is simply being unable to pay reasonable costs for shelter, food, utilities and transportation because your available funds are insufficient.
3Check the definition of veteran before assuming you fall outside it. It covers 180 days of active service with a qualifying discharge, a medical separation, or a service-connected disability rating from the VA — and separately covers a current reserve or guard member activated by presidential call-up for other than training, a former reserve or guard member who fulfilled their initial service obligation with a qualifying discharge, and one who meets the federal twenty-year definition without 179 days of active duty.
4Family members apply in their own right. The definition of family covers a spouse or domestic partner, a surviving spouse or surviving domestic partner, and dependent children of a living or deceased veteran — and, where a service member was killed in the line of duty, regardless of the number of days served.
5If a county officer says the fund has run out or does not exist, ask them about the levy. RCW 73.08.080 requires the levy and confines expenditures from the fund to the assistance programme, the disposition of remains, and the direct and indirect costs of administering the fund.
6Where you may be sent to a service organisation first, that is by design: the county should, so far as feasible, ensure that a local branch of a nationally recognised veterans’ service organisation is the initial point of contact.
7For a funeral, ask about the burial provision separately. If relatives or friends want to arrange the disposition themselves, the county auditor pays them the sum on proof of the death, the disposition and the expenses incurred.

Form: Your county’s veterans assistance application
File with: The county veterans assistance programme, or the entity the county has contracted to run it
Documents you will need: dd214
Periodic recertification: Confirmed at intervals rather than annually.

CorrectionThis is a mandatory county programme with a mandatory funding source, not a charity. The statute uses "shall" for both the levy and the programme. That is worth knowing before you accept being told there is nothing available.

CorrectionThe 150% of federal poverty level figure is a floor on generosity, not a ceiling. RCW 73.08.005 expressly allows a county to adopt "a higher qualifying income", so a veteran above 150% should ask what their own county has set rather than assume they are out.

Worth knowingThe definition of veteran here is the chapter’s own and is broader in places than the one used for other benefits — a service-connected disability rating qualifies you with no minimum service, and a reserve or guard member activated by presidential call-up is covered while serving.

Worth knowingBecause the county may delegate the programme by grant, contract or interlocal agreement, the body you deal with may not be the county itself. The agreement has to specify the services, the responsibilities of each party, the duration, the funding and the reporting, so ask to see what the operator is contracted to provide.

Known gapThe chapter deliberately leaves the menu of services to each county, so we cannot say what your county pays for or up to what amount. Nothing here should be read as a promise of rent, utility or food assistance in a particular county — only that the fund exists and what it may lawfully be spent on.

Sources

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