Oakland County Veterans' Services: Claims Help, Relief and Burial

Oakland County Veterans' Services is the county's department of veterans affairs (see the Michigan entries on county departments, the veterans relief fund and the county burial allowance). It is a county division paid from county taxes, not part of VA, and charges nothing. What it does. Its counsellors help veterans and survivors file and appeal claims for VA compensation, pension, health care, education, home loans, insurance and burial benefits, combat-related special compensation and concurrent retirement pay, discharge upgrades and records and medals; and for the State and county benefits it lists as soldiers relief, the county burial allowance, the county marker setting allowance, a flag case, education for children, the Michigan veterans homes, discharge recording and the property tax exemption. What it does not publish. The relief fund and burial allowance are paid under MCL 35.21 and 35.801, which set a $300 burial floor and leave relief to need. The benefits page prints the division's Summary of Benefits as of 3/24/2023, which names the county's burial allowance, marker foundation fee and flag case but gives no amounts for any of them, and no county page does. The adopted FY2026-FY2028 budget's Soldier Burial line (object 731794, Veterans Services Division) is the only public dollar figure: $113,629 adopted for each of the three years, after $16,481, $23,224 and $11,758 in FY2023-FY2025 actuals. Ask a counsellor for the current amounts; for a burial claim bring the death certificate, the itemized funeral bill and the marriage certificate, within two years of the death. Where. North Office Building, 1200 North Telegraph Road, Building 26E, Pontiac (248-858-0785) and the South Oakland Office Building, 1151 Crooks Road, Entrance B, Troy (248-655-1250), 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. and 1 to 4:30 p.m.; online appointments are offered. Email [email protected].