For funeral professionals

When a family can't find the DD214.

You need a discharge document to arrange military honors, and the family is searching drawers in the hardest week of their lives. Here's an honest guide to your options — including the cases where you don't need us at all.

First things first

Is the service in the next few days?

Use the government's emergency channel, not us. For imminent burials, the National Personnel Records Center prioritizes requests from funeral homes and families — call the NPRC customer line and tell them the date of the service. Military funeral honors can also proceed with other proof of honorable service, not only a DD214; your branch honors coordinator can confirm what they'll accept. Start at archives.gov/veterans. No private service — ours included — can beat that channel on a deadline measured in days.

Where we earn our keep is everything that comes after the funeral — when the honors are done, the family is exhausted, and the benefits paperwork still needs a DD214 the family never found.

After the service

What still needs the DD214 once the funeral is over.

Most survivor benefits have no urgent deadline but do require the discharge record. Families typically need it for:

VA burial allowance

Reimbursement claims for burial and funeral costs require proof of service.

Headstone, marker, or medallion

Government-furnished memorials are ordered with the discharge record.

Presidential Memorial Certificate

An engraved certificate signed by the President, available to families of honorably discharged veterans.

Survivor pension and DIC

VA survivor benefits start with proof of the veteran's qualifying service.

Estate settlement

Probate attorneys and insurers regularly ask for the DD214.

Family records

Many families simply want the record preserved for children and grandchildren.

The process

How it works when you refer a family.

  1. 1

    An eligible next-of-kin starts the request

    The National Archives releases a deceased veteran's DD214 to a surviving spouse, parent, child, or sibling. Our intake takes a few minutes and asks for the basics: the veteran's name during service, branch, and approximate dates.

  2. 2

    We prepare the paperwork

    We complete the SF-180 the same day and route it to the family member for e-signature, along with guidance on the proof-of-death documentation NPRC requires.

  3. 3

    We file and follow up

    Submitted to the NPRC in St. Louis, with follow-up at the 30, 60, and 90-day marks and a status email to the family every two weeks — even when there's no news.

  4. 4

    Encrypted delivery

    When NPRC responds, the family receives the record through an encrypted, expiring link — not as a plain email attachment carrying a Social Security Number.

No death certificate in hand yet? The family can still start today. We prepare everything else and submit the moment the certificate is available — a common situation in the weeks right after a service.

Honest expectations: NPRC's own processing typically takes weeks, and we tell families that plainly. What we remove is the form preparation, the follow-up calls, and the wondering — not the government's queue.

For your families

Use this page however it helps.

Link it from your veterans-services resource page, include it in your after-care packet, or hand the address to a family directly. There's no referral arrangement and nothing to sign up for — if it saves a grieving family a trip through federal paperwork, it's done its job.

Questions about a specific family's situation — unusual relationships, missing records, pre-1973 service? Email help@veterandd214.com and a real person will answer, whether or not it turns into a request.

Transparency, because it matters: DD214s are available free from the National Archives, and our step-by-step DIY guide shows families exactly how. We're the done-for-you option, priced from $97, one-time, no subscription.

Have a family who needs this handled?

An eligible next-of-kin can start the request in a few minutes. We take it from there.

Request their DD214 Next-of-kin details →