Michigan County Burial Allowance for a Veteran

1911 PA 235 requires the county board of commissioners, on application, to pay $300 toward the burial of a qualifying veteran or the veteran's spouse or surviving spouse. It is a county obligation rather than a state one, and the machinery runs through the soldiers' relief commission or, where the county has created one, the county department of veterans' affairs. Who qualifies. A veteran under MCL 35.61 discharged under honorable conditions after serving not less than 90 days of active service, or discharged under honorable conditions after less than 90 days because of a service-connected disability, or the spouse or surviving spouse of such a veteran. "Service" for this act means service during a period of war as described in 38 CFR 3.2, with Michigan's own Vietnam era dates. Residency. The deceased must have been a Michigan resident at the time of death and a resident either for six months before entering the service or for three years immediately before death. The estate test, and the opt-out. The general rule in subsection (1) is an estate not exceeding $25,000 over and above all encumbrances. Subsection (2) raises that to $40,000 from February 7, 2004, but lets a county escape the higher figure: the increase does not apply to a county whose board of commissioners passes a resolution by majority vote exempting the county from it. A county that opts out must file the resolution with the Department of Technology, Management and Budget, which must report at least annually to the legislature on which counties have done so. So the threshold is $40,000 in most of Michigan and $25,000 in any county that voted otherwise, and the only public record of which is which is that legislative report. What counts in the estate, and what does not. Estate means ownership of real or personal property at death, held in the decedent's sole name or by the entireties, in common, or in joint tenancy with a spouse, child or parent, but does not include real property owned by the decedent as their homestead. Excluding the house is what makes the test survivable; a homeowner with modest savings can still qualify. When it is refused. If the investigation shows the deceased left no dependent surviving but did leave an estate sufficient to meet lawful claims including burial expenses, the county shall not pay. The deadline. The application must be submitted within two years after the date of death. That is longer than the one-year windows several other states use. The investigation. The soldiers' relief commission must investigate every application and report to the clerk of the board of commissioners setting out the facts including the name, rank and command of the deceased, the date of death, the place of burial, and their residence and occupation while living. The claimant must furnish a sworn itemised statement of the burial expenses. Commission members who are not salaried receive $2.00 a day for the time actually and necessarily employed on this work, a figure set in 1911. The headstone duty. Section 35.803 requires the clerk, on the death and burial of such a veteran and on request, to apply to the federal government for a suitable headstone as provided by act of Congress and to cause it to be placed at the head of the grave, and to do the same for the deceased wife or widow where Congress provides one. $300 has not moved in decades and covers a small fraction of a Michigan funeral. The entry exists because it is a mandatory county payment that a family has two years to claim and that no one will tell them about unless they ask a county veterans office.