Assistance program
Veterans Dependency and Indemnity Compensation for Service-Connected Death
$70.2 Billion committed in FY2018–FY2026
- Agency
- Veterans Benefits Administration, Veterans Affairs, Department of
- Assistance
- Direct Payments With Unrestricted Use
- CFDA number
- 64.110
- What it does
- To compensate surviving spouses, children and parents for the death of any servicemember who died while on active duty, active duty for training, or inactive duty training, OR any Veteran who: • died from an injury or disease deemed to be related to military service, OR • died from a non-service related injury or disease, but was receiving, or was entitled to receive, VA Compensation for a service-connected disability or disabilities that was rated as totally disabling: o for at least 10 years immediately preceding death, OR o since the Veteran's release from active duty and for at least five years immediately preceding death, OR o for at least one year before death if the Veteran was a former prisoner of war who died after September 30, 1999.
- Who benefits
- Surviving spouses, children and parents of deceased Veterans.
- Who applies
- Death Compensation is payable to an unmarried surviving spouse, unmarried children and dependent parent or parents of the deceased Veteran who died before January 1, 1957, because of a service-connected disability. For deaths on or after January 1, 1957, Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) is payable to an unmarried surviving spouse, unmarried children and dependent parent or parents of the deceased Veteran. DIC is a tax free monetary benefit paid to eligible survivors of a military servicemember who died in the line of duty or eligible survivors of a Veteran who: • died from an injury or disease deemed to be related to military service, OR • died from a non-service-related injury or disease, but was receiving, or was entitled to receive, VA Compensation for a service-connected disability or disabilities that was rated as totally disabling: o for at least 10 years immediately preceding death, OR o since the Veteran's release from active duty and for at least five years immediately preceding death, OR o for at least one year before death if the Veteran was a former prisoner of war who died after September 30, 1999. The surviving parent(s) must have an income below a limit established by law, 38 U.S. Code 5312. Effective December 2024, surviving spouses who receive DIC and have one or more children under age 18 will receive an additional $409.53 each month for eligible child for the first two years following the Veteran’s death, as well as another additional $342 per month as a transitional benefit for the first two years after the Veteran’s death. Only one monthly child supplement payment is made, regardless of the number of minor children on the surviving spouse’s award. This increased rate applies only to months "occurring" during the two-year period beginning on the date entitlement to DIC began. It ceases on the first month beginning after the expiration of the two-year period or the month in which all of the surviving spouse's children have attained the age of 18, or are removed from the award, whichever is earlier. A surviving spouse who remarries after age 57 retains eligibility for DIC
- Authorized by
- Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriation Act
Committed by fiscal year
* FY2026 is year-to-date — the fiscal year is still in progress, so its total is still filling in. The striped band and dashed line mark that provisional stretch.
Recipients
This program's money is paid out as non-itemized direct payments — USAspending records it under a single aggregate, so individual recipients aren't listed. The dollars and agencies above are complete; the recipient roster isn't part of the public record for programs like this.
How to read these numbers
- Committed through this program
Money committed under this assistance listing (its CFDA program), counted in the year each action happened.
- How it's paid
Most programs pay out one way — a grant, or a direct payment to individuals; the flow bar only appears when a program genuinely mixes types.
- Some recipients aren't itemized
For entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare, the government reports one aggregate instead of naming tens of millions of people, so the recipient roster isn't part of the public record.
- Awards, counted once
An award count is the number of distinct awards with at least one action that year — each counted once, however many times it was amended.
- The colored bars
Every bar on this page splits by how the money moves:
Direct payments