diff --git a/app/controllers/v0/burial_claims_controller.rb b/app/controllers/v0/burial_claims_controller.rb
index 620336c4f47..5ead02cc210 100644
--- a/app/controllers/v0/burial_claims_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/v0/burial_claims_controller.rb
@@ -7,7 +7,19 @@ class BurialClaimsController < ClaimsBaseController
     service_tag 'burial-application'
 
     def show
-      render_burials_json
+      submission_attempt = determine_submission_attempt
+      if submission_attempt
+        state = submission_attempt.aasm_state == 'failure' ? 'failure' : 'success'
+        render(json: { data: { attributes: { state: } } })
+      elsif central_mail_submission
+        render(json: central_mail_submission)
+      else
+        Rails.logger.error("ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound: Claim submission not found for claim_id: #{params[:id]}")
+        render(json: { data: { attributes: { state: 'not found' } } }, status: :not_found)
+      end
+    rescue => e
+      Rails.logger.error(e.to_s)
+      render(json: { data: { attributes: { state: 'error processing request' } } }, status: :unprocessable_entity)
     end
 
     def create
@@ -44,19 +56,14 @@ def claim_class
 
     private
 
-    def render_burials_json
-      if (submission_attempt = determine_submission_attempt)
-        state = submission_attempt.aasm_state == 'failure' ? 'failure' : 'success'
-        render(json: { data: { attributes: { state: } } })
-      else
-        render(json: CentralMailSubmission.joins(:central_mail_claim).find_by(saved_claims: { guid: params[:id] }))
-      end
-    end
-
     def determine_submission_attempt
-      claim = claim_class.find_by!(guid: params[:id])
-      form_submission = claim.form_submissions&.last
+      claim = claim_class.find_by(guid: params[:id])
+      form_submission = claim&.form_submissions&.last
       form_submission&.form_submission_attempts&.last
     end
+
+    def central_mail_submission
+      CentralMailSubmission.joins(:central_mail_claim).find_by(saved_claims: { guid: params[:id] })
+    end
   end
 end
diff --git a/spec/controllers/v0/burial_claims_controller_spec.rb b/spec/controllers/v0/burial_claims_controller_spec.rb
index 2bfc11fbf18..a8e3393ad5c 100644
--- a/spec/controllers/v0/burial_claims_controller_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/controllers/v0/burial_claims_controller_spec.rb
@@ -45,5 +45,10 @@ def send_create
 
       expect(JSON.parse(response.body)['data']['attributes']['state']).to eq('success')
     end
+
+    it 'returns an error if the claim is not found' do
+      get(:show, params: { id: '12345' })
+      expect(response).to have_http_status(:not_found)
+    end
   end
 end