Burial Assistance

Important Financial Information in Your Time of Grief 

If your deceased family member or friend had few or no assets and you require publicly-funded funeral arrangements, please consider the following:

There are two forms of public burial:

• Milwaukee County will fund a funeral and burial up to a combined cost of $1,500.  Depending on your choice of cemetery and funeral services, you may need to pay additional expenses out-of-pocket.  In addition to County residency, eligibility is based on the size of the decedent's estate or, if married, the couple's combined assets and spouse's income.  The estate, or combined assets, cannot exceed $1,500.  The monthly gross income limit is $1,166 for a couple, higher for families with children.
• The State of Wisconsin will pay toward the costs of a cemetery plot and funeral home services up to a combined total of $2,500.  The State contribution is available only if total burial and funeral expenses are below $3,500.  To be eligible for this benefit, the decendent's estate, or a couple's combined assets if married, cannot exceed $3,500.

To obtain a State-funded funeral and burial, the decedent must have been eligibile for Title 19 Medicaid or W-2 at the time of death.  Decedents do not have to be on Medicaid or W-2 when they died, only to have been eligible.  You will be asked to complete a State financial aid application on behalf of the decendent to determine eligibility and certain documents may be requested.  Persons on SSI or in a community-based waiver program and children in foster care or kinship care are automatically eligible for a State-funded burial.

A decedent may qualify for Title 19 Medicaid or W-2 if he or she was:

For more information, please call the Milwaukee County Burial Office at

414-289-6714