Can a surviving spouse get a VA loan?

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Who VA covers

To get a VA-backed home loan as a surviving spouse, you need a Certificate of Eligibility (COE). It is the VA document that shows your lender you qualify. VA says you may be able to get one if one of these fits you.

Only VA decides who qualifies.

Sources: VA home loans for surviving spouses. VA Lenders Handbook, Chapter 2 (topics 1, 3 and 5). Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (what "totally disabling" means). 38 U.S.C. 3701(b). Retrieved 14 October 2026.

If You Remarried

How remarriage changes it

Remarrying can end the benefit for groups 1 and 2. Your age when you remarried, the date, and whether that marriage ended all matter.

• You remarried at 57 or older, on or after December 16, 2003. VA says you may still qualify.
• You remarried at 57 or older, before December 16, 2003. VA needed your application by December 15, 2004. VA says it has to deny applications received after that.
• You remarried, and that marriage ended through death, divorce or annulment. Federal rules say it does not stop you from getting the VA home loan benefit, unless VA finds the divorce or annulment was gotten through fraud or collusion (a secret deal to deceive).
• You lived with someone and presented yourselves openly as married, and that has ended. Federal rules say it does not stop you from getting the VA home loan benefit.

The age is different for DIC. Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) is a tax-free VA payment to survivors of a service member who died in the line of duty, or of a veteran who died from a service-related injury or illness, or of a veteran whose service-connected disability was rated totally disabling for a set time before death. VA says that if you remarried at 55 or older, on or after January 5, 2021, you can still get DIC. For the home loan, the law still says 57.

Planning to marry? Tell your lender first. VA's certificate warns that a change in marital status after VA issues it, and before your loan closes, can void it.

Sources: VA home loans for surviving spouses. VA Lenders Handbook, Chapter 2 (topics 1 and 3). 38 CFR 3.55(a). 38 U.S.C. 103(d). Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, VA. Retrieved 14 October 2026.

How To Apply

Getting your Certificate of Eligibility

How you apply depends on whether you receive DIC.

If you receive DIC

Fill out VA Form 26-1817, the Request for Determination of Loan Guaranty Eligibility: Unmarried Surviving Spouses. Add the veteran's DD214 or other separation papers, if you have them. Give it to your lender to send to VA online, or mail it to the VA regional loan center for your state. The address is on the form.

If you do not receive DIC

Apply for DIC first, with VA Form 21P-534EZ. Send it with the veteran's DD214 or other separation papers if you have them, a copy of your marriage license, and the veteran's death certificate. VA's surviving spouse page lists where to send it. If your spouse died on active duty, VA says your casualty assistance officer helps you with VA Form 21P-534a instead.

If your spouse is listed as missing in action or a prisoner of war, ask VA how to apply.

The VA funding fee

The VA funding fee is a one-time payment on a VA-backed home loan. VA says you do not pay it if you receive DIC as the surviving spouse of a veteran. If you are a surviving spouse who does not receive DIC, ask VA or your lender how the fee applies to you.

After you have your COE, the lender orders a VA appraisal and reviews your credit and income.

Sources: VA home loans for surviving spouses. How to request a VA home loan COE. VA Form 26-1817. VA Form 21P-534EZ. Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (VA Form 21P-534a). VA funding fee and loan closing costs. All VA, retrieved 14 October 2026.

If The Veteran Had A VA Loan

Refinancing the loan you shared

Start by calling the loan servicer, the company the payments go to. Tell them about the death, and ask what papers they need from you.

An Interest Rate Reduction Refinancing Loan (IRRRL) is VA's refinance of an existing VA loan, to lower the rate or move to a fixed rate. VA's lender handbook says who can get one after the veteran dies:

• You can, on your own, if you were married to the veteran when the loan was made, were on the loan with them, and still own the home.
• You cannot if you were not married to the veteran when the loan was made, or were not on the loan.

VA's IRRRL page also asks you to certify that you live in the home, or used to.

Sources: VA Lenders Handbook, Chapter 6 (topic 1, subsections j and k). VA interest rate reduction refinance loan. Both VA, retrieved 14 October 2026.

Before You Apply

What to ask your lender

Ask these before you apply.

1. Can you request my COE from VA online?
2. Will my COE show that I do not pay the funding fee?
3. I plan to marry. Will that affect this loan if it happens before closing?
4. I was on the veteran's VA loan. Can I refinance it with an IRRRL?

Sources: How to request a VA home loan COE (your lender may request it online). VA Lenders Handbook, Chapter 2 (topic 1). VA Lenders Handbook, Chapter 6 (topic 1). All VA, retrieved 14 October 2026.

Common Questions

Questions surviving spouses ask about the VA loan

Sources

Where every fact came from

Every rule on this page comes from VA or from federal law. Where they do not say something, we left it out.

• Who VA covers, remarriage, and how to apply. Home loans for surviving spouses, VA. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
• The groups VA covers, the remarriage age and date, and the warning about a change in marital status. VA Lenders Handbook (VA Pamphlet 26-7), Chapter 2, Veteran's Eligibility and Entitlement, VA. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
• Who can refinance with an IRRRL after the veteran dies. VA Lenders Handbook (VA Pamphlet 26-7), Chapter 6, Refinancing Loans, VA. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
• The law on who counts as a surviving spouse for the home loan. 38 U.S.C. 3701(b), United States Code. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
• The law on remarriage at 57, and the DIC age of 55. 38 U.S.C. 103(d), United States Code. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
• A remarriage or living together that has ended. 38 CFR 3.55(a), Code of Federal Regulations. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
• What DIC is, what "totally disabling" means, the DIC remarriage age, and the form when a spouse died on active duty. Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, VA. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
• Requesting a COE, including through your lender. How to request a VA home loan COE, VA. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
• The forms. VA Form 26-1817 and VA Form 21P-534EZ, VA. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
• The VA funding fee and the DIC exemption. VA funding fee and loan closing costs, VA. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
• What an IRRRL is, and living in the home. VA interest rate reduction refinance loan, VA. Retrieved 14 October 2026.
• Questions about your own case. VA Home Loans contact page, VA.

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