Chester County Coroner's Interment of Unclaimed Veterans
When a veteran dies in Chester County with no next of kin found, or kin who decline, the Coroner's Office confirms the service with veterans' agencies and, every two years,…
VetTOC · Veteran benefits reference
Chester County, Pennsylvania
Free help with a VA claim
- Chester County Department of Veterans Affairs. Chester County's Department of Veterans Affairs, at the Government Services Center in West Chester, is the county director of veterans affairs' office: it helps veterans, spouses and dependents apply for county, State and federal benefits, keeps the county's veterans' grave registration record and gives out Memorial Day flags and grave markers all year. The county publishes no burial allowance figure; ask. www.chesco.org/155/Veterans-Affairs
- Pennsylvania County Directors of Veterans Affairs. Every Pennsylvania county must appoint a director of veterans affairs, who has to hold VA accreditation and who files VA claims, pays the county burial allowance and takes applications for the State programmes. Since 2026, a funeral director must tell the county director within 96 hours when a veteran from the county dies. www.palegis.us/statutes/consolidated/view-statute?txtType=HTM&ttl=51&div=0&chapter=17
Find a VA-accredited representative: www.va.gov/get-help-from-accredited-representative/find-rep
Chester County benefits
Chester County Recorder of Deeds: Free Discharge Recording and Veteran ID Card
The Chester County Recorder of Deeds records a DD-214 free, keeps it out of the public record, and then issues a free photo Veteran ID card that about 100 participating Chester…
Chester County Veterans Court
Chester County's Veterans Court takes veterans, active duty members and current or former Guard and Reserve members charged with a misdemeanour or felony in the county.
Pennsylvania benefits that apply here
Pennsylvania Amputee and Paralyzed Veterans Pension
$150 a month for the loss or loss of use of two or more extremities, where each affected limb is rated at least 40%. No income test, and it is paid on top of VA compensation.
Gate: 40% or more in each affected limb
Pennsylvania Blind Veterans Pension
$150 a month for life to a veteran whose service caused the loss of vision.
Pennsylvania County Burial Allowance, Headstone Base and Grave Flags
Every Pennsylvania county pays at least $75 toward the funeral of a veteran who lived there and of a surviving spouse who has not remarried, sets the base for a free federal…
www.palegis.us/statutes/consolidated/view-statute?txtType=HTM&ttl=16&div=0&chapter=155
Pennsylvania Disabled Veteran Fishing License
A free lifetime fishing license at a 100% service-connected rating, and a $1 statutory fee (about $2.97 with issuing charges) at 60% to 99%.
Gate: 60% opens the reduced fee, 100% the free lifetime license
Pennsylvania Disabled Veteran Hunting and Furtaker License
Free hunting and furtaker licenses at a 100% rating or unemployability, and $2.97 at 60% to 99%.
Gate: 60% opens the reduced fee, 100% or unemployability the free license
www.pa.gov/agencies/pgc/huntingandtrapping/licenses-and-permits/license-types
Pennsylvania Disabled Veterans Real Estate Tax Exemption
A total exemption from real estate tax on the dwelling a wartime veteran lives in, at 100% permanent, unemployability, blindness, paraplegia, or the loss of two or more limbs.
Gate: 100% permanent service-connected disability; Total disability individual unemployability
Pennsylvania Educational Gratuity for Children of Disabled and Deceased Veterans
Up to $500 a term for eight terms, $4,000 in total, paid to a Pennsylvania school for a child of a wartime veteran rated 100 percent or who died in service or of a…
Pennsylvania Free Vehicle Registration for Disabled Veterans and Decorated Veterans
No registration or title fee on one passenger vehicle for a veteran who lost a limb or an eye or became partially paralyzed in service, and for a former prisoner of war, a Medal…
www.pa.gov/services/dmv/apply-for-free-registration-for-eligible-veterans
Pennsylvania Military Retired Pay and Military Pay Tax Treatment
Pennsylvania does not tax military retired pay at all, and it does not tax active duty pay a resident earns outside the Commonwealth.
www.pa.gov/agencies/revenue/resources/tax-types-and-information/personal-income-tax/military-pay
Pennsylvania Operation Recognition High School Diploma
A high school diploma a Pennsylvania school board may grant, as an honorary degree, to an honorably discharged veteran who left school to serve in World War II, Korea or Vietnam,…
Pennsylvania Postsecondary Educational Gratuity for Children of Fallen Guard Members
Waives the tuition, fees and on-campus room and board that other grants leave, at a Pennsylvania community college, state-owned or state-related school, for the child of a…
www.pheaa.org/documents/funding-opportunities/aid-for-military-national-guard/military-brochure.pdf
Pennsylvania Severely Disabled Veteran and Veteran License Plates
A Severely Disabled Veteran plate at a 100% rating or a listed condition.
Gate: 100% service-connected, for the Severely Disabled Veteran plate
www.pa.gov/agencies/dmv/resources/persons-with-disabilities-placards-plates
Pennsylvania State Veterans Homes
Six state veterans homes, from Erie to Philadelphia. A veteran rated 70% or higher who needs skilled nursing pays nothing.
Gate: A rating of 70% or more means no cost
Pennsylvania Veteran Designation on a Driver License
A free veteran designation on a Pennsylvania licence or ID for anyone discharged under conditions other than dishonorable, added online or by mail and carried forward at every…
www.pa.gov/agencies/dmv/resources/military-personnel-veterans/veterans-designation
Pennsylvania Veterans Preference in Public Employment
Pennsylvania's Veterans' Preference Act (51 Pa.C.S. Chapter 71) adds 10 points to a veteran's passing civil service examination score, makes an appointing authority prefer a…
www.palegis.us/statutes/consolidated/view-statute?txtType=PDF&ttl=51&div=0&chapter=71
Pennsylvania Veterans Temporary Assistance
Up to $1,600 in any twelve-month period for food, shelter, fuel, and clothing, for a veteran or a beneficiary of a veteran in immediate need. No disability rating is involved.
Pennsylvania Veterans Trust Fund Grants
A state fund, paid for largely by voluntary donations at driver license renewal and by veteran plate fees, that grants money to county veterans offices and to nonprofits serving…
79 federal benefits apply here as well and are left off this page; the place page lists them.