VA Form 40-10007 Application for Pre-need Determination of Eligibility for Burial in a VA National Cemetery

How to Fill Out and Submit VA 40-10007?

VA 40-10007 consists of the form itself and instructions. The form includes three sections:

1. Veteran/Service Member. Since the eligibility for burial in a VA National Cemetery is based upon the veteran's/service member's military service, it is required to provide the corresponding personal and military service data in this part.
2. Claimant Information. Enter your name, your personal data (if different from the indicated in the previous part), contacts, and the relationship to the veteran/service member named in Item 1. Use this section to indicate the desired VA National Cemetery.
3. Certification and Signature. For the VA to process the application, it should be signed and dated properly.

Each claimant is required to submit a separate VA 40-10007. When submitting the form it may be necessary to attach photocopies of supporting documents, like the most recent discharge document (DD Form 214). If you are not able to find the copies of military records, you may apply anyway and the VA will try to obtain them.

VA Form 40-10007 can be used to request burial in one of the VA National Cemeteries only. The full list of them can be found at the VA official website. The VA burial form cannot be used to apply for Arlington National Cemetery, the United States Soldiers and Airmen's Home National Cemetery, as well as a state or tribal Veterans cemetery burial.

Approval of a pre-need determination of eligibility does not guarantee that you will be buried at the cemetery indicated in Item 29 of the form. A specific VA National Cemetery is usually scheduled at the time of need depending on the available space. It is not possible to reserve a gravesite on any National Cemetery in advance.

VA Burial Benefits

Burial in a National Cemetery is one of the VA burial benefits the veteran may be eligible to. It includes:

• A gravesite in any of the National Cemeteries that has available space;
• Opening and closing of the grave;
• A burial flag;
• A Government headstone or marker;
• Perpetual care of the grave;
• A Presidential Memorial Certificate.

All of these are provided at no cost to the family. Besides the veteran, the VA burial benefits can be available to certain eligible members of the family, for example, their spouse, minor children, and other dependents.

The eligibility can be checked in advance. For this purpose, you will need to submit the VA 40-10007 and the required supporting documents via mail or fax to the VA National Cemetery Scheduling Office.