• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Wyoming Department of Family Services

  • Home Page
  • About
    • About Us
    • Contact Us & Locations
    • Central Registry
    • Complaint Resolution
    • Data and Reports
    • DFS Strategic Plan
    • Eligibility Integrity Unit
    • Join the DFS Family
    • Firearms Policy
    • Parenting Tips
    • Policy Manuals
    • Public Record Requests
    • Stories From the Field
    • WY Home Matters
  • I Need To Report
    • Abuse/Neglect/ Exploitation
    • Complaint Resolution
    • Potential Public Assistance Fraud
    • PREA Reporting at the Wyoming Girls’ School and the Wyoming Boys’ School
  • Assistance Programs
    • Burial Benefits
    • Cash Assistance
    • Child Care Assistance
    • Child Support Services
    • Food Assistance
    • Housing, Utilities & Energy Assistance
    • Resources
  • Services
    • Child & Juvenile Services
      • Adoption
      • Child Protection Services
      • Children and Family Services Plan (CFSP) and Annual Progress and Services Report (APSR)
      • Children and Family Services Review (CFSR)
      • Wyoming Foster Care
        • Foster Care & Training
        • Wyoming Foster Care Training
        • Wyoming Foster Care Frequently Asked Questions
        • Foster Care Publications and Wyoming State Library Resources
        • Education and Training Vouchers (ETV)
        • Independent Living (IL) Program
    • Elderly & Disabled
    • Family Services
      • Child Care
      • Child Support
      • Assistance
    • Juvenile Services
      • Juvenile Justice Information System (JJIS)
      • Wyoming Boys’ School and Wyoming Girls’ School
    • Plans of Safe Care
      • Documents & Templates
      • Notification
      • PoSC Collaboratives
      • Training
    • WYOSAFE
  • Providers & Partners
    • Child Care
      • Background Check FAQs
      • Licensing Rules
      • Report a Concern on a child care facility
      • Resource and Referral (Providers)
      • Technical Assistance & Resources
      • Who Needs to be Licensed?
    • Child Care Background Check Information
    • New Provider Child Care Digital Toolkit
      • Items Related to Subsidy Payments
      • Requirements for All Adults
      • Site Specific Information
    • Community Family Support Forum
    • ECARES for Child Care Access
    • Qualified Prospective Child Care Staff
    • Substitute Care
      • Notice of Non-Compliance (Findings) and Facility Visits
      • Substitute Care Out of State (Central Registry) Background Checks Forms and Instructions
    • Tribal Relations
    • Wyoming Early Childhood State Advisory Council (ECSAC)
Home   >>   Assistance Programs   >>   Burial Benefits

Burial Benefits

Grandchild-holding-grandparent-for-the-hand-selective-focus

The burial assistance program administered by the Department of Family Services assists families with payments of up to $1,000 to funeral homes for burial expenses of deceased individuals who did not have sufficient assets to provide for burial or cremation and were receiving cash assistance through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) POWER Program, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), or certain types of Medicaid at the time of their death.

Eligibility Factors

The decedent must meet the following criteria in order for assistance to be provided: 

  1. A Wyoming resident; 
  2. Receiving  Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Personal Opportunities with Employment Responsibilities (POWER) at time of death; and
  3. Does not have sufficient assets to provide for burial or cremation.  Individuals with pre-funded burial or cremation plans are considered to have sufficient assets/funds to provide for burial or cremation.

Allowable Expenditures:

Per Program Rules, the following are allowable expenditures:

  1. Burial:
    1. removal of the deceased from place of death to a mortuary;
    2. minimum services of staff;
    3. professional embalming when required;
    4. other preparation of the body (dressing and casketing);
    5. graveside committal service if requested;
    6. minimum casket offered on casket price list; and/or
    7. hearse to cemetery.
  1. Cremation:
    1. removal of the deceased from place of death to a mortuary;
    2. minimum services of staff;
    3. professional embalming when required;
    4. minimum cremation container;
    5. transportation to crematory;
    6. cost of cremation;
    7. return of ashes to next of kin; and/or
    8. graveside service for interment of ashes if requested.

Request for Assistance

If a family member is interested in applying for burial assistance to cover expenses for the loss of  their loved one, she/he can go to or call their local Department office and request assistance.  The decedent’s assets and income at the last Medicaid or POWER certification is used to determine eligibility. Each office has a designated Benefit Specialist to process the request for burial assistance. 

Once a request is received by the Department, the designated Benefit Specialist uses the decedent’s social security number and checks both the Department’s POWER Eligibility System as well as the Department of Health’s Medicaid Eligibility System (which verifies Medicaid and/or SSI eligibility) to verify the participant’s eligibility for the Burial Program.  

Funding will vary per year based on fees collected.  The Department will notify applicants if funding is not sufficient to cover their request, and the request will be held until a new appropriation is received. 

For more information, contact your local DFS office or

Darlene Martinez
Benefit Specialist
307-721-1967
darlene.martinez@wyo.gov

Kristen Carlson
Program Manager
307-473-3949
kristen.carlson@wyo.gov

County Funded Burial Assistance

Each county may have its burial assistance program run independently of the DFS program. For more information about those programs, don’t hesitate to contact your funeral home of choice, the county coroner’s office where the deceased resided or the Wyoming County Commissioners Association website.

Primary Sidebar

  • Assistance Programs
    • Burial Benefits
    • Cash Assistance
      • Cash Assistance: Child Support Requirements
      • Cash Assistance: Eligibility
      • Cash Assistance: Income and Resource Requirements
      • Cash Assistance: Monthly Benefit Amount
      • Cash Assistance: Temporary Illness or Injury
      • Cash Assistance: Expectations
      • POWER Work Program
    • Child Care Assistance
    • Child Support Services
    • Food Assistance
      • Cent$ible Nutrition Program
      • Emergency Food and Commodity Assistance
      • Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
        • SNAP Employment and Training Program (SNAP E&T)
        • SNAP: Do I Qualify?
        • SNAP: How Do I Get My Benefits?
        • SNAP: How to Apply and Frequently Used Forms
        • SNAP: Other Useful Links
    • Housing, Utilities & Energy Assistance
      • Homeless Services
      • Housing News
      • Low Income Energy Assistance Program (LIEAP)
      • Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP)
      • Wyoming Homeowners Assistance Fund Program
    • Resources

Footer

Phone: 307-777-7564   /   Toll Free: 800-457-3659
For questions about SNAP, please visit the SNAP Page.
Email: dfs-directorsoffice@wyo.gov
Contact Local Offices  /  That’s Wyoming
Privacy Policy  /  Non-Discrimination Notice

Copyright © 2025 Wyoming Department of Family Services