Medal of Honor Pension for surviving spouses

Am I eligible for Medal of Honor Pension as a surviving spouse?

You may be eligible if you meet these requirements:

• The Veteran you were married to was awarded the Medal of Honor, and
• You were married to the Veteran at the time of their death, and
• You haven’t remarried, unless you remarried when you were age 57 or older

 You must also meet at least 1 of these requirements:

• You were married to the Veteran for at least 1 year before their death, or
• You had a child with the Veteran

How do I get a Medal of Honor Pension as a surviving spouse?

We’ll automatically process your Medal of Honor Pension as a surviving spouse if all of these are true:

• The Veteran was receiving a Medal of Honor Pension, and
• VA records list you as the surviving spouse of the Veteran, and
• You meet the eligibility requirements on this page

If the Veteran received the Medal of Honor after their death, the Secretary of their military branch will notify VA.

If VA records don’t list you as the surviving spouse, you’ll need to complete a Statement of Marital Relationship (VA Form 21-4170). We’ll use this information to confirm your eligibility.

Get VA Form 21-4170 to download

Then, submit your form in any of these ways:

Option 1: Upload your form online on VA.gov

Upload your completed Statement of Marital Relationship form online

Option 2: Mail your form to us

Mail your completed form to this address:

Department of Veterans Affairs
Pension Intake Center
PO Box 5365
Janesville, WI 53547-5365

Option 3: Submit your completed form in person

Bring your completed form to a VA regional office near you.

Find a VA regional office near you

Option 4: Get help from a trained professional to submit your form

You can work with an accredited attorney, claims agent, or Veterans Service Organization (VSO) representative to get help submitting your form.

Get help submitting a form

Can I get other VA benefits at the same time?

You can receive VA Survivors Pension and Medal of Honor Pension at the same time.

Find out if you qualify and how to apply for VA Survivors Pension

If you receive a Medal of Honor Pension, you can’t receive these additional VA payments:

• You can’t receive more than 1 Medal of Honor Pension, even if you were married to more than 1 Veteran who received the Medal of Honor.
• You can’t receive VA Dependency and Indemnity Compensation and Medal of Honor Pension at the same time. If you’re eligible for both benefits, we’ll pay the higher benefit amount.

Current Medal of Honor Pension rate for a surviving spouse

Effective December 1, 2025

If you’re the surviving spouse of a Veteran awarded the Medal of Honor, we may pay you $5,780 each month. Although this benefit is called a pension, it isn’t based on income or net worth.

Note: We adjust the Medal of Honor Pension to make sure your benefits keep up with inflation. These adjustments match the percentage of cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) for your Social Security benefits.

Find information about the cost-of-living adjustment on the Social Security Administration website

Can I get retroactive payments?

In certain situations, you may be eligible for retroactive payments (also called “back payments”) starting from a date in the past.

Some reasons why you may be eligible for retroactive payments:

• We added the Veteran to the Medal of Honor roll after their death, or
• VA records didn’t list you as the surviving spouse so we didn’t start paying you the Medal of Honor Pension right away

We may pay benefits back to the first day of the month the Veteran died. If we award the Medal of Honor after the Veterans’ death, we’ll generally pay benefits back to the date we added the Veteran to the Medal of Honor roll.

We can’t pay retroactive benefits for any period before January 5, 2021.