South Dakota Burial Allowance for an Indigent Veteran

Section 33A-5-2 is small and is routinely described as though it were a general burial benefit. It is not. The state pays a sum not to exceed one hundred dollars for the burial of a veteran, and a veteran as defined by 33A-2-1 or the veteran's spouse is buried at the expense of the state, only where three conditions are met together. The veteran must have been a citizen of the United States and a resident of South Dakota for one year preceding entrance into military service or preceding death. Either window will do, so a veteran who moved to the state late in life qualifies on the second. The estate of the veteran or of the spouse, whether living or deceased, and the immediate family or relatives of either, must be unable to defray the funeral expenses. That is the means test and it reaches past the estate to the relatives. The surviving spouse or relatives must furnish an affidavit acceptable to the county or tribal veterans service officer, or to a field officer of the Department of Veterans Affairs, that the estate is not sufficient to defray the funeral expenses. The claim must be filed with the Department of Veterans Affairs within one year of the date of burial, and the department advises that it be submitted by the county or tribal veterans service officer. The department also states that the payment cannot be made to another unit of government, so a county that has already paid cannot recover it here. A parallel county power sits alongside it. Under 33A-5-9 a county may pay the burial expense of a veteran or spouse who died in the county or was legally resident there at death, where relatives or friends furnish affidavits acceptable to a circuit judge that the estate is insufficient. Under 33A-5-7 and 33A-5-8 a county may buy up to ten burial plots with perpetual care, title vested in the state. Section 33A-5-1 puts the duty to start the process on the county or tribal veterans service officer or a department field officer, on notice of the death or on their own initiative in a proper case, which means the family does not have to know the statute exists for it to be applied. One hundred dollars has not moved since 1976. In 2023 the Legislature raised the headstone erection cap from one hundred to two hundred dollars and left this figure alone. Section 33A-5-6 annually appropriates a sum sufficient to carry out 33A-5-2 to 33A-5-5, so the money is not rationed; the means test is what limits it. Separately, and without any means test, the Department of Veterans Affairs reimburses congressionally chartered veterans service organisations for conducting military funeral honors, on a form submitted by the organisation after the service, paid quarterly.