Riley, J.
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Appellant-Petitioner, Debbie Roop (Roop), appeals the trial court’s order to pay her child support arrearage to Tina Buchanan (Buchanan).
We affirm in part and reverse in part.
ISSUE
Roop raises one issue on appeal, which we restate as: Whether the trial court abused its discretion when it ordered Roop to pay her child support arrearage to her adult child, Buchanan, instead of to Appellee-Respondent, Dean Buchanan (Dean), who is deceased.
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With these principles in mind, we turn to the unique facts of this case. It is undisputed that, as of January 22, 2013, Roop’s child support arrearage amounted to $9,464.27. It is equally undisputed that Dean is deceased and no estate has been opened. Both children are emancipated and Buchanan assumed Dean’s funeral costs in the amount of $8,026.00. As Dean, the deceased custodial parent whose children are emancipated, is entitled to a presumption that he expended his own funds to offset any deficit caused by the unpaid child support during the children’s minority, it is only reasonable to infer that these extra expenses cut short his own savings toward funeral costs. Because he was unable to save during his life, his emancipated child has now assumed these costs in lieu of her father. Under these circumstances, we cannot say that the trial court abused its discretion when it ordered Roop to continue paying the child support arrearage towards Dean’s funeral costs. However, as the arrearage is a debt owed to the custodial parent as trustee of the child, and in the absence of an estate, the trial court abused its discretion when it awarded the remainder of the arrearage—after payment of the funeral expenses—directly to the emancipated children. See Lizak, 496 N.E.2d at 42.
CONCLUSION
Based on the foregoing, we conclude that the trial court properly ordered Roop to pay the accrued child support obligation to Buchanan for satisfaction of Dean’s funeral expenses. However, the trial court abused its discretion when it awarded the remainder of the child support arrearage to the emancipated children.
Affirmed in part and reversed in part.
ROBB, C. J. and KIRSCH, J. concur