By Frank Flores, founder of FamiliaLista · Updated November 2026

What your family will need if you're a veteran: the complete checklist

Your family will need your DD-214 (or NGB-22 for Guard service), your VA file number and rating letter, your SGLI or VGLI policy and who it names, your DFAS and Survivor Benefit Plan details if you're retired, your burial wishes, and the family papers that show how they're related to you. Gather them once, tell your family where they are, and sit down with your county Veterans Service Officer to make sure nothing is missing. With these in hand, your family can file for every benefit they're owed without hunting for papers.

Which papers prove your military service?

• Your DD-214 (Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty), one for each period of active service. Your family will need it to schedule a burial in a national cemetery and for most survivor claims. Source: va.gov
• Your NGB-22, if you served in the National Guard. The Adjutant General's office of the state you served in can help you get a copy. Source: veterans.alaska.gov
• Retirement orders, if you retired from the military.
• If you can't find your DD-214, request it now, while you can sign for it yourself. Our guide on how to get a DD-214 walks you through it.

What VA information should your family have?

• Your VA file or claim number. It's printed on your VA letters.
• Your benefit summary letter. You can download it from VA.gov (the "Benefits and service summary" letter). Source: va.gov
• Your disability rating and the list of conditions VA has rated as service-connected.
• Any open claims or appeals, and who is helping you with them: your county Veterans Service Officer or another accredited representative.
• Your VA health care: your main VA clinic and the names of your doctors.

What should your family know about your life insurance?

• SGLI, if you're still serving: coverage goes up to $500,000, in $50,000 steps. You choose or change your beneficiary online in SOES, through milConnect ("Manage my SGLI"). Source: va.gov
• VGLI, if you've left the military: you have 1 year and 120 days after you leave to apply, and no health review if you apply within 240 days. You can update your beneficiary online with Prudential or with form SGLV 8721. Source: va.gov
• Who you named. Check that the beneficiary on file is still who you want. A beneficiary files a claim with form SGLV 8283. Source: va.gov
• Any other life insurance: where the policy is and who the agent is.

If you're retired: what does your family need for DFAS?

• How to report the death. DFAS asks the family to use the askDFAS online form or call 1-800-321-1080 (Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET). Have your full name, Social Security number, date of death and marital status ready, plus the date of marriage if the spouse is calling. Source: dfas.mil
• What happens to the last payment. Retired pay deposited after the death is taken back from the bank. Your final, prorated pay goes to your beneficiary as "arrears of pay" once DFAS gets a valid claim. Source: dfas.mil
• Your Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) election: whether you chose SBP when you retired, and who it covers.
• Your myPay account: where your family can find your retired pay statements. Write down where they are, not your password.

What burial wishes should you write down?

• Your pre-need eligibility letter. You can ask VA now to confirm you're eligible for burial in a VA national cemetery (VA Form 40-10007). It doesn't reserve a gravesite, but it gives your family the answer ahead of time. Source: va.gov
• Where you'd like to rest: a VA national cemetery, a Texas State Veterans Cemetery, or a private cemetery.
• Burial or cremation, military funeral honors, and what you'd like on your headstone or marker.
• More detail in our guide to VA burial benefits and pre-need eligibility.

Which family papers will they be asked for?

• Your marriage certificate, and the divorce decrees from any earlier marriages.
• Your children's birth certificates (and adoption papers, if any).
• Social Security numbers for you, your spouse and your children.
• VA may ask for documents that show the relationship or dependent status, such as a death certificate, when the family schedules a burial. Source: va.gov

Why does your health history matter to your family's claim?

VA pays Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) when a veteran died from a service-connected illness or injury, or had a total disability rating for a set number of years before the death. Source: va.gov

That makes the death certificate important. A veterans attorney quoted by Military.com notes that more detail on death certificates, such as contributing conditions, can change outcomes. Source: military.com Keep a current list of your service-connected conditions and your doctors, so your family can give it to the doctor who completes the death certificate.

Which Texas benefits can pass to your family?

• A property tax exemption on the home for the surviving spouse of a veteran rated 100% disabled or individually unemployable, as long as the spouse hasn't remarried. Source: comptroller.texas.gov
• Hazlewood tuition at Texas public colleges for the spouse and children, in certain cases. Source: sfasu.edu
• Veterans Land Board loans, Texas State Veterans Cemeteries and Texas State Veterans Homes.
• The details, and who qualifies, are in Texas benefits for veteran families.

Which VA forms should your family have ready?

Download them now and keep a copy with your papers. Your local Veterans Service Officer can help fill them out, for free.

• VA Form 21P-534EZ (PDF): survivors' application: DIC, Survivors Pension and accrued benefits
• VA Form 21-0966 (PDF): intent to file: holds the start date; the claim follows within 1 year
• VA Form 21-22 (PDF): names the Veterans Service Organization that helps
• VA Form 21-0845 (PDF): lets VA share information with someone you trust
• VA Form 21P-530EZ (PDF): burial benefits
• VA Form 40-10007 (PDF): pre-need burial eligibility
• SF-180: request military records, including the DD-214

Who should your family call first?

1. The funeral home. They should tell the funeral home you served and give them a copy of your DD-214.
2. Your local Veterans Service Officer (in Texas, the county office), to help file for survivor and burial benefits.
3. VA benefits: 1-800-827-1000. Source: glo.texas.gov
4. The National Cemetery Scheduling Office: 800-535-1117, if you'll be buried in a VA national cemetery. Source: va.gov
5. DFAS: 1-800-321-1080, if you were retired. Source: dfas.mil
6. The life insurance company, with the claim form for SGLI or VGLI (SGLV 8283). Source: va.gov

For survivor payments, see VA survivor benefits: what your family can claim.

▶  Watch how to set it up, step by step.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• VA.gov: DIC rates for surviving spouses and dependents
• 38 CFR 3.400(c): when death benefits start
• VA.gov: Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC)
• Military.com: New VA rule aims to deliver faster benefits to surviving families
• National Archives: Request military service records
• State of Alaska Office of Veterans Affairs: How to obtain an NGB-22
• VA.gov: Download your VA benefit letters
• VA.gov: Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (SGLI)
• VA.gov: Veterans' Group Life Insurance (VGLI)
• DFAS: Prepare your loved ones (March 2024)
• VA.gov: Plan a burial for a family member
• VA.gov: Pre-need eligibility for burial in a VA national cemetery
• Texas Comptroller: 100 percent disabled veteran and surviving spouse exemption
• Stephen F. Austin State University: Hazlewood Act (Texas Education Code 54.341)
• Texas Veterans Land Board: Cemetery burial benefits and eligibility

Every source above was checked in November 2026. General information, not legal or financial advice. VA and Texas rules change; check the official sources above or talk to your county Veterans Service Officer or another accredited representative about your situation.

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