diff --git a/components/lazcontrols/treefilteredit.pas b/components/lazcontrols/treefilteredit.pas
index b92a19f8fc..de3900cb4f 100644
--- a/components/lazcontrols/treefilteredit.pas
+++ b/components/lazcontrols/treefilteredit.pas
@@ -362,6 +362,7 @@ procedure TTreeFilterBranch.RemoveChildrenData(ARootNode : TTreeNode);
   end;
 
 Begin
+  if ARootNode=nil then exit;
   ProcessSubNodes(ARootNode);
 end;