Arkansas Benefits for Surviving Spouses and Gold Star Families

This entry gathers the Arkansas benefits that follow a veteran's death. Each is described in full in its own entry. Property tax. The surviving spouse and minor children of a veteran who qualified for the disabled veteran exemption, or of a member killed or missing in service, or of a veteran who died of service-connected causes, pay no property tax on the home and personal property, under section 26-3-306(a)(1)(B). The spouse keeps it while unmarried and gets it back if a later marriage ends. File a surviving spouse affidavit with the county collector. Income tax. Survivor Benefit Plan annuities funded by military retired pay are exempt under section 26-51-307(e)(1)(B). Dependency and indemnity compensation is not taxed. Education. The Heroes Scholarship pays tuition, fees and on-campus housing beyond federal DEA for the spouse or child of a veteran rated 100 percent permanent and total or medically retired, or of a member killed in action, missing, a prisoner of war or killed on ordnance delivery. A spouse loses it on remarriage. Jobs. An unmarried surviving spouse of a veteran receives the 5-point state hiring preference under section 21-3-302, and a private employer's voluntary policy may include surviving spouses. Plates. A disabled veteran's plate passes to the spouse for no more than $1, a Purple Heart plate free, and a Gold Star Family plate is free to the spouse, parents, siblings and children of a member who died in the honorable performance of duty or within a year of a service-connected injury or illness. Burial. A spouse may be buried with the veteran in a state veterans cemetery for $807. Guard deaths on state duty. The state pays $50,000 to the beneficiaries of a Guard member killed on state active duty.