Surviving spouses of service members who died in the line of duty or from a service-connected disability are one of the groups the VA home loan benefit was built to protect — with their own eligibility path, their own Certificate of Eligibility process, and a full funding fee exemption.
Who qualifies
A surviving spouse is eligible for a VA loan when:
- The service member died in the line of duty, or died from a service-connected disability, and
- The spouse has not remarried — or remarried after age 57, or on or after December 16, 2003, under current law.
Getting the Certificate of Eligibility
Surviving spouses apply using VA Form 26-1817, along with the veteran's DD-214. If eligibility is based on a service-connected death, the file may also need supporting evidence such as a DIC award letter or VA Form 21P-534EZ. See our full Certificate of Eligibility guide for the general process — this is the document-specific path for this group.
The funding fee exemption
This is one of the most valuable pieces of the benefit for this group: surviving spouses of veterans who died in service or from a service-connected disability, or who are receiving DIC, are exempt from the VA funding fee entirely. That means a surviving spouse using this benefit pays $0 in funding fee — on top of already having no down payment requirement and no monthly mortgage insurance. See our funding fee guide for the complete exemption list and how it applies across loan types.
What else applies the same way
Once eligibility is established, a surviving spouse's VA loan works exactly like any other VA loan:
- $0 down payment for eligible borrowers with full entitlement
- No monthly mortgage insurance
- Standard VA underwriting, including the residual income test (see our residual income guide)
- A required VA appraisal on purchases and cash-out refinances
Entitlement
An eligible surviving spouse receives their own entitlement, separate from whatever the deceased veteran may have used during their lifetime — subject to standard VA eligibility and entitlement rules.
Sources: VA Home Loan Eligibility — va.gov/housing-assistance/home-loans/eligibility/; VA Certificate of Eligibility — va.gov/housing-assistance/home-loans/how-to-request-coe/; VA Lenders Handbook M26-7.