A Person Authorized to Direct Disposition, or PADD, is the individual a service member legally empowers to make all decisions about the recovery, care, and final resting place of their remains. The authority comes from 10 U.S.C. § 1482, and a service member names their PADD on DD Form 93, the Record of Emergency Data.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 1482 – Expenses Incident to Death Once named, that person’s instructions are binding on the military, as long as they fall within federal regulations.
What the PADD Decides
The PADD controls the full arc of what happens to the remains. That includes choosing the funeral home, deciding between burial and cremation, selecting the cemetery, and directing the military where to send the remains with its escort.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 1482 – Expenses Incident to Death The Secretary of the relevant military department pays for recovery and identification, preparation (including cremation if the PADD requests it), a casket or urn with an outside box, funeral director services, hearse service, a uniform or clothing, and transportation.
One option many families don’t know about: the PADD can choose two destinations for transport of the remains, as long as the second one is a national cemetery. The government pays for transport to the first location directly and reimburses the cost of transport to the second.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 1482 – Expenses Incident to Death A family can hold a service at a hometown funeral home and then have the remains moved to a national cemetery for interment.
The statute does not set a hard dollar cap on items like the casket. Instead, if the family pays for something the government would normally provide, the military reimburses them “in an amount not larger than that normally incurred by the Secretary in furnishing the supply or service concerned.”1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 1482 – Expenses Incident to Death Anything above what the military would typically spend comes out of the family’s pocket.
The PADD also receives the interment flag presented by the honor guard, and military funeral honors are coordinated through a casualty assistance officer when the PADD requests them. Eligibility for honors is determined by the military department at the time of the request.2Military OneSource. Know Your PADD Rights
How the PADD Differs From Primary Next of Kin
The PADD and the Primary Next of Kin (PNOK) are often the same person, but they aren’t the same role. The PNOK is the person most closely related to the deceased, usually the spouse, eldest adult child, or eldest parent. The PADD is the person responsible for carrying out the service member’s wishes about the remains.3Arlington National Cemetery. Identifying the Primary Next of Kin (PNOK) and Person Authorized to Direct Disposition (PADD)
A service member can name a sibling, close friend, or non-spouse partner as PADD while a spouse remains PNOK. In that split, the PADD controls disposition of the remains while the PNOK handles other notifications and benefits. This matters most in blended families, estranged marriages, or situations where the service member trusts someone other than their closest legal relative to follow through on specific wishes about cremation, burial at sea, or a particular cemetery.
Who Takes the Role if No PADD Is Named
When a service member dies without naming a PADD on DD Form 93, the military follows a default order of precedence with eleven levels. The top of the list is the unremarried surviving spouse, followed by adult children by age, then parents by age, then a blood or adoptive relative granted legal custody by court decree, then siblings of legal age by seniority, then grandparents, then other adult blood relatives ranked by closeness under the laws of the deceased’s home state.3Arlington National Cemetery. Identifying the Primary Next of Kin (PNOK) and Person Authorized to Direct Disposition (PADD) Below those tiers sit a remarried surviving spouse, persons who stood in loco parentis for at least one continuous year before enlistment, the legal representative of the estate, and finally the Secretary of the military department as an administrative backstop.4Department of Defense. DoDI 1300.29 – Mortuary Affairs Program
Two things in this hierarchy catch blended families off guard. First, step-parents who have not legally adopted the service member are excluded from the parent tier entirely. A step-parent who raised the service member for a decade may still qualify under the loco parentis category, but that sits in the ninth slot, below grandparents, distant blood relatives, and even a remarried former spouse. Second, step-siblings have no authority at all. Adopted siblings count as full siblings if adopted by both biological parents, and as half-siblings if adopted by only one.3Arlington National Cemetery. Identifying the Primary Next of Kin (PNOK) and Person Authorized to Direct Disposition (PADD) The only way to override any of this is for the service member to designate the person they actually want on DD Form 93.
Naming a PADD on DD Form 93
DD Form 93 is where the designation lives. Item 15a provides a single field for the PADD’s name and relationship, along with mailing address and contact information so casualty assistance officers can reach the person quickly.5Department of Defense. DD Form 93 – Record of Emergency Data Accurate phone numbers, email addresses, and ZIP codes matter: errors in these fields are one of the most common reasons notifications get delayed.
The form does not include a dedicated field for an alternate or backup PADD. Item 16 is a general remarks section, but the instructions don’t explicitly authorize using it to name a successor.5Department of Defense. DD Form 93 – Record of Emergency Data If the named PADD is unable or unwilling to serve when the time comes, the military reverts to the default order of precedence. A service member who wants to address that gap should raise it with their unit’s personnel officer.
Service members submit the completed form through their unit’s personnel office, and many branches now use the Virtual Record of Emergency Data (vRED) portal for electronic signature. Soldiers are required to update DD Form 93 every year around their birthday and are encouraged to update after any life-changing event such as a marriage, divorce, birth, or death in the family.6U.S. Army. Soldiers Encouraged to Update DD Form 93 Other branches follow similar policies, typically verifying the form during annual records reviews or before deployment.
DD Form 93 also handles other designations, including the beneficiary for the $100,000 death gratuity, which can be a different person from the PADD.7Defense Finance and Accounting Service. Death Gratuity Updating one section is a good reason to review them all.
What Happens After Death
When a service member dies, the military assigns a Casualty Assistance Officer (CAO) as the primary liaison between the government and the PADD. The CAO doesn’t make decisions. They walk the PADD through the options and handle the coordination that would otherwise overwhelm a grieving family member.
The CAO counsels the PADD on funeral options and allowances, assists with the DD Form 3045 (Statement of Disposition of Military Remains), obtains the PADD’s signature on payment authorization forms for each funeral home used, and coordinates military funeral honors through the regional casualty assistance office.8Commander, Navy Installations Command. Funeral Arrangement Visit Checklist One piece of practical guidance the CAO typically offers the PADD: don’t lock in a funeral date until the remains arrive at the receiving funeral home. The CAO also connects the family with a staff judge advocate, chaplain, finance office, and housing and transportation offices as needed.9Department of the Army. Army Regulation 600-8-1 – Army Casualty Program
What the Government Pays For
For active-duty deaths, the Department of Defense covers the core funeral expenses directly under 10 U.S.C. § 1482: remains preparation, a casket or urn, funeral director services, and transportation with a military escort.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 1482 – Expenses Incident to Death Burial in a national cemetery, including opening and closing the grave, is provided at no cost. Choosing a private cemetery shifts some costs to the family, because private cemeteries charge for the plot, opening and closing fees, and perpetual care. The government still covers the statutory items in either case.
Separately, the VA provides burial allowances that apply primarily to veterans who die after leaving active service. For a non-service-connected death on or after October 1, 2025, the VA pays a $1,002 burial allowance and $1,002 for a plot. For a service-connected death on or after September 11, 2001, the maximum burial allowance is $2,000. The VA also provides up to $441 toward a headstone or marker for deaths on or after October 1, 2025.10U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Veterans Burial Allowance and Transportation Benefits Surviving spouses listed on the veteran’s VA profile may receive certain payments automatically without filing a separate claim. These allowances help offset the extra costs of a private cemetery but rarely cover them in full, which is worth weighing when the PADD chooses between a national and private cemetery.