No. Your VA disability compensation stops the month after you die, and the VA does not roll that payment over to your spouse. What your spouse can do is apply for separate survivor benefits in their own name, and the main one — Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, or DIC — pays a tax-free base rate of $1,699.36 per month as of December 2025. Nothing starts automatically. Your spouse has to file, and when they file affects how far back the money reaches.
Dependency and Indemnity Compensation
DIC is the primary monthly payment for a surviving spouse. The straightforward qualifying path is a death caused by a service-connected disability.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 38 USC 1310 – Deaths Entitling Survivors to Dependency and Indemnity Compensation The veteran’s discharge must have been under conditions other than dishonorable for the period of service tied to that condition.
DIC can also be paid when the death itself was not service-connected. If the veteran held a 100% disability rating continuously for at least ten years before death, or for at least five years from the date of discharge, the VA treats the death as service-connected for DIC purposes and pays at the same rate. Former prisoners of war qualify after just one continuous year at a total rating.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 38 USC 1318 – Benefits for Survivors of Certain Veterans Rated Totally Disabled at Time of Death Families often miss this path because they assume the death certificate has to name a service-connected cause.
Current DIC Rates
The base monthly DIC payment for a surviving spouse is $1,699.36, effective December 1, 2025.3U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Current DIC Rates for Spouses and Dependents Two add-ons are common:
- An extra $360.85 per month if the veteran was rated totally disabled for at least the eight full years before death and the spouse was married to the veteran throughout that entire eight-year period.
- $421.00 per month for each eligible child under 18, plus a transitional benefit of $359.00 per month for the first two years after the veteran’s death.
DIC is not taxable at the federal level. Rates rise each December through cost-of-living adjustments.
Survivors Pension When Death Isn’t Service-Connected
If the death is unrelated to military service and the DIC paths above don’t apply, the alternative is the VA Survivors Pension. It is needs-based and limited to spouses of veterans who served at least 90 days of active duty with at least one day during a recognized wartime period such as the Vietnam Era or the Persian Gulf War.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 38 USC 1541 – Surviving Spouses of Veterans of a Period of War
The amount varies with income. The VA subtracts the spouse’s countable annual income from a ceiling called the Maximum Annual Pension Rate. For 2026, that ceiling is $11,699 for a surviving spouse with no dependents and $15,311 with one dependent child. Higher rates apply for spouses who need aid and attendance or are housebound.5U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Current Survivors Pension Benefit Rates Total net worth (assets plus annual income) cannot exceed $163,699. Unreimbursed medical expenses reduce countable income. The primary residence and personal property generally don’t count against the net worth cap.
A spouse cannot collect both DIC and the Survivors Pension. If they qualify for both, the VA pays whichever is higher. DIC almost always wins that comparison, but for a very-low-income spouse of a wartime veteran, the pension with Aid and Attendance can occasionally come out ahead.
Money the VA Owed You at Death
If the VA still owed the veteran money when they died — retroactive pay tied to a recent rating increase, for instance — that money is paid to the surviving spouse as accrued benefits. Without a surviving spouse, it goes to dependent children in equal shares, then to dependent parents.6Veterans Affairs. Accrued Benefits
If a disability claim was still pending at death, a surviving spouse can substitute as the claimant and continue it by filing VA Form 21P-0847 within one year of the death.7Veterans Affairs. Request to Be a Substitute Claimant for a Deceased Claimant Worth doing even when the odds look thin: a favorable decision can produce retroactive pay and, if it establishes a service-connected condition that contributed to death, open the door to DIC.
Who Counts as a Surviving Spouse
To receive any of these benefits, your spouse has to meet the VA’s definition. The core rule is at least one year of marriage before death, with continuous cohabitation from the wedding until death.8eCFR. 38 CFR Part 3 Subpart A – Relationship Having a child together waives the one-year requirement. Separations don’t disqualify a spouse as long as the separation wasn’t their fault; a veteran who moved into long-term care, for example, doesn’t break the continuous-living requirement. A marriage with a technical legal defect the spouse didn’t know about can still be treated as valid if they lived together for at least a year before the veteran’s death.
A former spouse — divorced or annulled — is not a surviving spouse under any of these programs.
Remarriage
Remarrying normally ends survivor benefits, but there are two age-based exceptions for DIC. A spouse keeps DIC through a remarriage that occurred on or after January 5, 2021 at age 55 or older, or on or after December 16, 2003 at age 57 or older.9U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. About VA DIC for Spouses, Dependents, and Parents If a later remarriage itself ends through death, divorce, or annulment, DIC eligibility can be restored regardless of the age at remarriage.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 38 USC 103 – Special Provisions Relating to Marriages
Filing on Time Protects the Money
The single step most families skip is filing an Intent to File before gathering documents. Your spouse can do this online, by calling 800-827-1000, or by mailing VA Form 21-0966. That filing locks in an effective date. If the claim is approved, payments can be backdated to the date the VA received the intent to file rather than the date the full application arrived.11Veterans Affairs. Your Intent to File a VA Claim There is then a full year to complete and submit the actual claim.
The one-year deadline matters. If the VA receives the DIC claim within one year of the veteran’s death, payments start from the first day of the month the veteran died. File later and the effective date becomes the date the VA received the claim.12Veterans Affairs. Disability Compensation Effective Dates At $1,699 a month, a six-month delay costs more than $10,000 that never gets paid.
The Application
VA Form 21P-534EZ handles DIC, Survivors Pension, and accrued benefits in one filing.13Veterans Affairs. About VA Form 21P-534EZ Along with it, your spouse will need the veteran’s DD-214 (available through the National Archives if the copy is lost),14National Archives. DD Form 214 Discharge Papers and Separation Documents the marriage certificate, a certified death certificate, and, for a DIC claim, medical evidence linking the cause of death to a service-connected condition. Filing can be done online at VA.gov, by mail to the VA’s Pension Management Center, or in person at a regional office. Online is usually fastest.
Other Survivor Benefits Worth Knowing
Beyond the monthly income, several related programs are available.
CHAMPVA health coverage. A surviving spouse who doesn’t qualify for TRICARE may be eligible for CHAMPVA if the veteran died from a service-connected disability or was rated permanently and totally disabled at death.15Veterans Affairs. CHAMPVA Benefits It covers doctor visits, hospital stays, prescriptions, and mental health care. Remarriage before age 55 ends CHAMPVA coverage on the date of remarriage, though eligibility can be restored if that marriage later ends.
Chapter 35 education benefits. Survivors’ and Dependents’ Educational Assistance pays a monthly stipend for education or training. For the 2025–2026 academic year, full-time college enrollment pays $1,574.00 per month, and the program covers up to $2,000 in licensing and certification test fees.16Veterans Affairs. Chapter 35 Rates for Survivors and Dependents
Burial benefits. The VA pays a burial allowance up to $2,000 for service-connected deaths and up to $1,002 each for the burial and plot allowances for non-service-connected deaths.17VA.gov. Burial and Memorial Benefits for Eligible Veterans and Survivors A surviving spouse can be buried in a VA national cemetery alongside the veteran at no cost, even after remarriage.18Veterans Affairs. Eligibility for Burial in a VA National Cemetery