If you had funeral or burial expenses because of the severe storms that struck Baxter, Benton, Boone, Fulton, Greene, Madison, Marion and Randolph counties May 24-27, funeral assistance may be available from FEMA.
Eligible Expenses
FEMA’s Other Needs Assistance (ONA) program provides assistance with certain eligible disaster-caused funeral expenses.
To request funeral assistance, you must first apply with FEMA by calling 800-621-3362, visiting a Disaster Recovery Center, going online at DisasterAssistance.gov or using the FEMA mobile app.
Eligible expenses may include cost of transfer of remains, casket or urn, funeral services, death certificates, burial plot, cremation, interment, cost of reinterment if disinterment is caused by the disaster, and/or occurs in a family cemetery on private property.
Eligibility Criteria
To verify eligibility, FEMA will need:
- An official state-issued death certificate or a signed statement from a medical examiner, coroner or other certifier stating that the death was directly or indirectly related to the disaster.
- Evidence of an unmet funeral expense – a receipt or verifiable estimates for funeral expenses that indicate the applicant incurred, or will incur, eligible interment, reinterment, or funeral expenses.
Confirmation that funeral expenses have not been paid using other resources. By law, FEMA cannot provide you a grant when any other source – Social Security or Veterans Affairs benefits – has covered expenses for the same disaster-related need.