California County Burial of Indigent Veterans

Military and Veterans Code sections 940 to 951 put a duty on every county. Under section 942 the board of supervisors must designate an honorably discharged veteran, or a member of a veterans remains organization, to see that the body of any veteran, or of a veteran's spouse or eligible dependent, who dies in the county is decently buried when the person was indigent, abandoned or unclaimed or left too little to pay for burial. Section 940 defines a veteran for this article as a person honorably discharged from the armed forces, including the Philippine Commonwealth Army and the Philippine Scouts. The designee must first make a careful inquiry and find that the family in the county cannot pay (section 947). The burial may not be in a cemetery or section used only for the pauper dead (section 943). The county's cost may not exceed $350 a burial (section 945). Where someone else has buried the veteran or a surviving spouse, the designee may pay $350 toward the cost (section 944). The county where the death occurred pays and the county of residence refunds it (section 946). The clerk of the board applies for the federal headstone and the county pays up to $10 to set it (section 948), and the board must maintain the grave perpetually (section 949). The designee is unpaid (section 950). The $350 figures are old and small against a funeral's cost. Ask the county veterans service office first about the VA burial allowance, a national or state veterans cemetery, and the county's own practice.