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 on 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. As used in this section, “veteran” means any person (1) honorably discharged from, or released under honorable conditions from active service in, the armed forces, as defined in section 27-103, or (2) with a qualifying condition, as defined in said section, who has received a discharge other than bad conduct or dishonorable from active service in the armed forces.

(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; P.A. 10-32, S. 96; P.A. 18-47, S. 22.)

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; P.A. 10-32 made a technical change, effective May 10, 2010; P.A. 18-47 added definition of “veteran”.