(a) Burial benefits. VA provides the following types of burial benefits, which are discussed in §§ 3.1700 through 3.1712:
- (1) Burial allowance based on service-connected death;
- (2) Burial allowance based on non-service-connected death;
- (3) Burial allowance for a veteran who died while hospitalized by VA;
- (4) Burial plot or interment allowance; and
- (5) Reimbursement for transportation of remains.
(b) Definitions. For the purposes of this subpart:
- (1) Burial means all the legal methods of disposing of the remains of a deceased person, including, but not limited to, cremation, burial at sea, and medical school donation.
(2) Covered veterans' cemetery is a designation for an eligible cemetery considered in the determination of transportation benefits under § 3.1709 that meets the following criteria:
- (i) A deceased veteran as described in 38 U.S.C. 2308(b) is eligible to be buried within the cemetery;
- (ii) The cemetery is either owned by a State or is on trust land owned by, or held in trust for, a Tribal organization; and
- (iii) The cemetery is one for which the Secretary has made a grant under 38 U.S.C. 2408.
(c) Cross references.
(1) Other benefits and services related to the memorialization or interment of a deceased veteran and certain survivors include the following:
- (i) Burial in a national cemetery (see §§ 38.600 and 38.617 through 38.629 of this chapter);
- (ii) Presidential memorial certificates (see 38 U.S.C. 112);
- (iii) Burial flags (see § 1.10 of this chapter); and
- (iv) Headstones or markers (see §§ 38.630 through 38.633 of this chapter).
- (2) The provisions of §§ 3.1702 through 3.1711 do not apply to any of the programs listed in paragraph (c)(1) of this section.
[79 FR 32658, June 6, 2014, as amended at 89 FR 78253, Sept. 25, 2024]