Sec. 27-118. Burial expenses.
Sec. 27-118. Burial expenses. When any veteran dies, not having sufficient estate
to pay the necessary expenses of the veteran's last sickness and burial, as determined
by the commissioner after consultation with the probate court for the district in which
the veteran resided, the state shall pay the sum of one thousand eight hundred dollars
toward such funeral expenses, and the burial shall be in some cemetery or plot not used
exclusively for the burial of the pauper dead, and the same amount shall be paid if the
body is cremated, but no amount shall be paid for the expenses for burial or cremation
unless claim therefor is made within one year from the date of death, except that in cases
of death occurring abroad, such claim may be made within one year after the remains
of such veteran have been interred in this country. No provision of this section shall
prevent the payment of the sum above named for the burial of any person, otherwise
entitled to the same, on account of such burial being made outside the limits of this state.
Upon satisfactory proof by the person who has paid or provided for the funeral or burial
expense to the commissioner of the identity of the deceased, the time and place of the
deceased's death and burial and the approval thereof by the commissioner, said sum of
one thousand eight hundred dollars shall be paid by the Comptroller to the person who
has paid the funeral or burial expense or, upon assignment by such person, to the funeral
director who has provided the funeral. Whenever the Comptroller has lawfully paid any
sum toward the expenses of the burial of any deceased veteran and it afterwards appears
that the deceased left any estate, the Comptroller may present a claim in behalf of the
state against the estate of such deceased veteran for the sum so paid, and the claim shall
be a preferred claim against such estate and shall be paid to the Treasurer of the state.
The commissioner, upon the advice of the Attorney General, may make application for
administration upon the estate of any such deceased veteran if no other person authorized
by law makes such application within sixty days after such payment has been made by
the Comptroller.
(1949 Rev., S. 2940; September, 1950, 1951, 1953, S. 1641d; 1957, P.A. 163, S. 31; 1961, P.A. 309; 1963, P.A. 610;
1967, P.A. 664; P.A. 88-285, S. 14, 35; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 07-2, S. 45.)
History: 1961 act changed provision that municipality pay burial expense to requirement that an allowance of $150 be
paid toward funeral expenses by municipality, reimbursable by the state; 1963 act deleted provisions for municipality to
pay allowance toward expenses, added provision for determination by the commission in consultation with probate court
that estate is insufficient to defray expenses and provided for payment of the allowance to the person who paid the funeral
expenses; 1967 act amended latter provision to include whoever provided for the funeral and for payment to funeral director
where assignment made to him; P.A. 88-285 replaced veterans' home and hospital commission with commissioner; June
Sp. Sess. P.A. 07-2 increased burial expense from $150 to $1,800 and made technical changes, effective July 1, 2007.