Genesee County Veterans Burial Fund

Michigan requires every county to pay at least $300 toward the burial of a qualifying wartime veteran, spouse or surviving spouse (MCL 35.801; see the Michigan entry on the county burial allowance). Genesee County's Veterans Burial Fund pays the family $500. Who qualifies, by the county's page. A veteran with at least 90 days of wartime service who was a Michigan resident for six months before entering the service or for the three years immediately before death, the statute's own residence test. The department also lists burial help for eligible spouses, and reimburses the cost of the foundation for setting a VA marker on an eligible veteran's grave; it publishes no amount for that. The county does not print an estate limit; the statute's is $40,000, not counting the home, unless a county has opted down to $25,000, and the claim must be made within two years of the death. The VA amounts on the county's page are stale. The department's VA burial page says VA pays "up to $300" toward burial and a $948 plot allowance for a death that was not service-connected. VA pays $1,032 and $1,032 for a death on or after October 1, 2026 ($1,002 and $1,002 from October 1, 2025). Its service-connected figures, $2,000 since September 11, 2001, are current. Apply through the Department of Veterans Services, 810-257-3068, with the DD-214, the death certificate and the paid funeral bills.