PSOB Death Benefit Calculator

By Mustafa Bilgic · Updated 2026-09-26

The Public Safety Officers' Benefits (PSOB) program pays a one-time federal benefit when a public safety officer dies, or is permanently and totally disabled, as the direct and proximate result of a personal injury sustained in the line of duty. The amount depends on the date of death or injury: $461,656 for deaths and disabilities on or after October 1, 2025. This PSOB death benefit calculator finds the amount for any date in the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) table back to 1976, applies the rule for claims pending more than 365 days, splits the benefit among survivors under 34 U.S.C. 10281(a), and estimates PSOEA education payments.

PSOB Death Benefit Amounts by Year

The benefit started at $50,000. Congress raised it to $100,000 effective June 1, 1988, and to $250,000 in 2001, and it is adjusted every year for inflation. Under 34 U.S.C. 10281(h), BJA adjusts the amount each October 1 to reflect the annual percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers in the 1-year period ending on the June 1 before. The amount that applies is the one in effect on the date of death or of the catastrophic injury.

Source: BJA, PSOB Benefits by Year. BJA prints the fiscal year 1999 amount as "$143.943"; it is $143,943. For disability claims, the table starts with injuries on November 29, 1990, the day the law adding disability benefits was enacted; it does not apply to earlier injuries. The fiscal year 2010 amount is lower than the fiscal year 2009 amount; the yearly adjustment follows the Consumer Price Index.

Who Receives the PSOB Death Benefit

34 U.S.C. 10281(a) sets the order. The first group below that includes a living person on the date BJA makes its determination is paid:

A "child" under 34 U.S.C. 10284 includes a natural, illegitimate, adopted or posthumous child or stepchild who, at the time of the officer's death or fatal injury, is 18 or under, over 18 and a student, or over 18 and unable to support themselves because of a physical or mental disability. For example, at the fiscal year 2026 amount, a spouse and 2 children receive $230,828 for the spouse and $115,414 for each child.

Claims Pending More Than 365 Days

Under 34 U.S.C. 10281(i), the amount payable is the greater of the amount on the date of death or catastrophic injury, or, when the claim has been pending more than 365 days at BJA's final determination, the amount that would apply if the death or injury had happened on the determination date. Example: a death on June 1, 2023 carries $422,035 (fiscal year 2023). If the claim was filed August 1, 2023 and decided November 15, 2025, it was pending 837 days, so the fiscal year 2026 amount of $461,656 applies.

Permanent and Total Disability Benefits

When BJA determines that an officer became permanently and totally disabled as the direct and proximate result of a line-of-duty personal injury, the officer receives the same amount that would have been payable as a death benefit on the date of the injury (34 U.S.C. 10281(b)). A "catastrophic injury" is one that permanently leaves the officer functionally incapable of performing work, including sedentary work. No death benefit is payable if a disability benefit was paid for the same officer, and no disability benefit is payable if a death benefit is payable (34 U.S.C. 10281(j)).

Interim Payments, Other Benefits and Fees

• Interim payment: when BJA decides, on a showing of need and before final action, that a death benefit will probably be paid, it may make an interim payment of up to $6,000, adjusted for inflation, to the person entitled to the benefit. It is deducted from that person's final benefit (34 U.S.C. 10281(c) and (d)).
• Other benefits: the PSOB benefit is paid in addition to benefits from other sources, with three exceptions listed in 34 U.S.C. 10281(f): payments under section 12(k) of the Act of September 1, 1916, benefits under 5 U.S.C. 8191 (only the part above the PSOB benefit is paid), and payments from the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.
• No attachment: no PSOB benefit is subject to execution or attachment (34 U.S.C. 10281(g)).
• Representative fees: fees for representative services are authorized by the PSOB office on a petition. It approves fees up to 3% of the benefit for death and disability claims it approves, 6% for claims approved by a hearing officer and then approved by the Director, and 9% for claims denied by a hearing officer and approved on Director appeal, unless it finds the amount excessive (28 CFR 32.7(h)). An agreement for any other kind of fee is not valid (28 CFR 32.7(g)).

Filing Deadline

Unless the Director extends the time for good cause, a death claim is not considered if it is filed after the latest of three years after the officer's death; one year after a final determination on, or certification of, the other benefits described in 28 CFR 32.15; or the end of the supporting-evidence collection period (28 CFR 32.12). Disability claims follow the same rule, counted from the injury date (28 CFR 32.22).

PSOEA Education Benefits

The Public Safety Officers' Educational Assistance (PSOEA) program pays the spouse and children of an officer covered by the death or disability benefit while they attend a program of education. Payments are computed on the basis of 38 U.S.C. 3532, the VA chapter 35 rates, and can be reduced under a need-based sliding scale (34 U.S.C. 10302 and 10304). Limits:

• No more than 45 months of full-time education or training, or a proportional period part time (34 U.S.C. 10302(b)).
• Children are eligible until their 27th birthday, with extensions for delayed approvals; spouses are eligible for life, according to the BJA PSOEA FAQ.

BJA calculates the amount by multiplying the months in the school term by the rate that applies to the dates of attendance. Nine months of full-time school at $1,574 is $14,166.

Presumptions: Heart Attack, PTSD and Cancer

A heart attack, stroke or vascular rupture is presumed to be a line-of-duty personal injury if it starts during, or within 24 hours after, nonroutine stressful or strenuous physical activity on duty, unless competent medical evidence shows it was unrelated (34 U.S.C. 10281(k)). The Public Safety Officer Support Act of 2022, signed on August 16, 2022, added post-traumatic stress disorder, acute stress disorder and trauma and stress related disorders when on-duty exposure to a traumatic event was a substantial factor (34 U.S.C. 10281(o)).

A law enacted December 18, 2025 (Public Law 119-60) added two more rules:

• Exposure-related cancers (34 U.S.C. 10281(q)): exposure to a carcinogen is presumed to be a line-of-duty injury that caused death or permanent and total disability if the exposure happened in line of duty, the officer had served at least 5 years before the diagnosis, the diagnosis came no more than 15 years after the last date of active service, and the cancer directly caused the death or disability, unless competent medical evidence shows the exposure was not a substantial contributing factor. The list includes bladder, brain, breast, cervical, colon, colorectal, esophageal, kidney, lung, ovarian, prostate, skin, stomach, testicular and thyroid cancer, leukemia, malignant melanoma, mesothelioma, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkins lymphoma and any cancer that is a WTC-related health condition. It applies to deaths on or after January 1, 2020 and to disability claims filed on or after that date, and such claims may be filed within 3 years of December 18, 2025.
• Retired law enforcement officers (34 U.S.C. 10281(p)): a retired officer who separated in good standing is eligible if death or permanent and total disability resulted from a targeted attack because of the officer's service. This applies to attacks on or after January 1, 2012.

Related Calculators

Families of officers who died from September 11th exposures should also see the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund calculator, since VCF payments are one of the listed exceptions. State programs are covered in crime victim compensation by state, and a civil claim against a third party is a separate matter, as in the wrongful death settlement calculator.

Tips

• Check the officer's designation of beneficiary and life insurance policy on file with the agency; they decide who is paid when there is no spouse or child.
• File within 3 years of the death, and keep proof of the filing date, since a claim pending more than 365 days can qualify for a later, higher amount.
• Do not sign a fee agreement that the PSOB office has not approved.
• Children who plan to use PSOEA should apply well before their 27th birthday.

Frequently Asked Questions