10-2-501. Burial allowance for military. (1) The board of commissioners of each county in this state shall designate a person in the county, preferably a veteran, as veterans' burial supervisor.
     (2) The veterans' burial supervisor shall cause to be decently interred the body of any veteran who was a resident of the state of Montana at the time of death. In performing this duty, the veterans' burial supervisor shall ensure that the desires of the veteran's personal representative or heirs are not violated.
     (3) The burial may not be made in any burial grounds or cemetery or in any portion of any burial grounds or cemetery used exclusively for the burial of pauper dead.
     (4) A sum not to exceed $250 to defer burial expenses must be paid by the county commissioners of the county in which the veteran was a bona fide resident at the time of death.
     (5) The burial benefits are not available in the case of any veteran whose personal representative or heirs waive the benefits.
     (6) Whenever burial is of a resident of a Montana veterans' home, a sum not to exceed $250 to defer burial expenses must be paid by the county commissioners of the county in which the veteran resided prior to admittance to a Montana veterans' home.
     (7) If a veteran dies while temporarily absent from the state or county of residence, the provisions of this section apply and the burial expenses not exceeding the amount specified in this section must be paid in the same manner as provided in this section.
     (8) Whenever a veteran dies at any public institution of the state of Montana, other than a Montana veterans' home, and burial for any cause is not made in the county of the former residence of the veteran, the officers of the state institution shall provide the proper burial prescribed in this section. The reimbursement for the expense of each burial may not exceed $250. The expense must be paid by the county in which the veteran resided at the time of entry into the institution.
     (9) A burial may not be covered by any special or standing contract whereby the cost of burial is reduced below the maximum amount fixed in this section, to the disparagement of proper interment.
     (10) The veterans' burial supervisor shall, upon request of the deceased veteran's next of kin or guardian, assist in applying to the proper authority for a suitable headstone, as provided by act of congress, and in placing the headstone on the veteran's grave. A sum not exceeding $70 for the shipping and raising of the headstone must be paid by the county commissioners of the county in which the veteran was a resident at the time of death. The expense must be audited and paid as provided in this section for burial expenses.
     (11) The county treasurer may withhold an amount of the county total monthly remittance to the state treasurer equal to the actual cost paid, up to $40, for the shipping and raising of each headstone.

     History: En. Sec. 1, Ch. 39, L. 1903; re-en. Sec. 2065, Rev. C. 1907; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 89, L. 1909; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 109, L. 1911; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 178, L. 1919; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 194, L. 1921; re-en. Sec. 4536, R.C.M. 1921; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 181, L. 1931; re-en. Sec. 4536, R.C.M. 1935; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 163, L. 1937; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 52, L. 1939; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 25, L. 1945; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 310, L. 1967; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 96, L. 1969; amd. Sec. 34, Ch. 535, L. 1975; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 49, L. 1977; R.C.M. 1947, 71-120; amd. Sec. 4, Ch. 609, L. 1989; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 70, L. 1991; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 45, L. 1995.