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What To Expect When Involving Funeral Benefits For Veterans
Veterans funeral benefits cover a whole lot more than just the immediate burial costs. The VA helps out military families with a comprehensive range of amenities and allowances for expenses associated with the death of a veteran. The family can provide a decent service and proper burial, honoring a person who laid his or her life on the line in service of the country.
Everything the government does to help can be divided into two areas, or agencies. VA offers reimbursements to help with the expenses associated with funerals and other rites. The National Cemetery Administration takes over afterwards by offering a gravesite and taking care of it.
The cause of death determines how much the VA will be able to shell out in reimbursements. In cases where the death is not related to military service, the families are entitled for two payments. One $700 payment covers the cost of ceremonies and rites. A second payment is an allowance for plot-interment of up to $700 if the grave is not in a national cemetery.
If the vet dies due to a service-related disability or injury, up to $2,000 may be offered for burial expenses. Note that in this case, there is only one payment. This payment doesn't have to include the burial plot within this cost, since that is arranged for separately by the National Cemetery Administration.
The National Cemetery Administration has 131 national cemeteries available. Any one may serve as the last resting place for a deceased veteran, who is also given a marker or headstone along with a burial flag. The families are given Presidential Memorial Certificates, and grave opening and closing along with perpetual care is provided to the family at no cost.
Note that veterans funeral benefits are not available for dependents, even though they are entitled to a grave in the same cemetery as the veteran. The government does, however, arrange for inscribing their names and birth/death dates on the veteran's headstone. All this is done irrespective of the order of their deaths, so everything is arranged for even though advance reservations are not allowed.
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