burialstate

State Veterans Cemetery — No Charge for the Veteran, $311 for a Family Member

The cemetery at Medical Lake charges nothing to inter an eligible veteran or service member: burial space, an inscribed government marker, a concrete vault for a casket burial, military honours on request and perpetual maintenance. A family member’s interment is charged at $311.

Verified August 22, 2026

What this benefit is

What it's worth: No direct charge for a veteran’s interment; $311 for a family member’s interment or memorialisation

The $311 took effect on 1 October 2025 and is adjusted annually on the consumer price index, so check the current figure before budgeting.
The family charge is for services rendered and cannot be prepaid.
There is an exception on the veteran side: a charge can arise where the burial allowance was previously paid out by the VA to the family or to another state veterans cemetery, which is the reinterment case.
No dollar figure is claimed for the veteran’s side. The saving is whatever a plot, an interment, a vault and a marker would have cost privately.

Who is entitled to it

The cemetery is open to members of the armed forces who meet the minimum active duty service requirement.
A spouse, widow or widower, and minor dependent children may be buried there.
Your discharge is of a character the cemetery accepts.
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

1Ask for a pre-need eligibility determination rather than waiting. Settling it in advance takes the paperwork off the family at the worst moment.
2Send the cemetery application with proof of military service — the DD Form 214 is what they name.
3Know what is included on the veteran’s side: burial space, an inscribed government marker, a concrete vault for a casket burial, military honours on request, and perpetual maintenance of the grounds.
4Budget the family charge separately. Interment or memorialisation of a family member is $311 as at 1 October 2025, cannot be prepaid, and moves each year with the consumer price index.
5If a burial allowance has already been paid by the VA to the family or to another state veterans cemetery, tell the cemetery — that is the situation in which a charge can arise on the veteran’s side.
6The cemetery is at 21702 West Espanola Road, Medical Lake, about three miles west of Fairchild Air Force Base. Deal with the cemetery office directly.

Form: WDVA Cemetery Application, with proof of military service
File with: The Washington State Veterans Cemetery at Medical Lake
Documents you will need: dd214
No renewal: Once granted it does not need renewing.

CorrectionThe family charge is real but small, and it is a charge for services rendered — it cannot be prepaid. Families who set money aside for it in advance are solving a problem the cemetery does not let them solve.

Worth knowingThe concrete vault is included for a casket burial. That is not universal among state veterans cemeteries, and it is one of the larger line items a family would otherwise face.

Known gapNo residency requirement appears on the department’s cemetery page. We do not read that silence as proof there is none — ask the cemetery office directly if the veteran lived out of state.

Known gapThe "minimum active duty service requirement" is stated without a figure on the page we read. The cemetery determines it case by case from the DD Form 214, so send the record rather than trying to work it out yourself.

Sources

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