1 files changed, 5 insertions, 3 deletions
diff --git a/xmerge/source/xmerge/java/org/openoffice/xmerge/util/XmlUtil.java b/xmerge/source/xmerge/java/org/openoffice/xmerge/util/XmlUtil.java
index 71e68f342a66..9cf24bf42fdf 100644
--- a/xmerge/source/xmerge/java/org/openoffice/xmerge/util/XmlUtil.java
+++ b/xmerge/source/xmerge/java/org/openoffice/xmerge/util/XmlUtil.java
@@ -45,8 +45,10 @@ public final class XmlUtil {
         // clone the starting node
         Node clonedNode = cloneNode(docNode, newNode);
 
-        // then clone the sub-tree recursively
-        cloneTree(docNode, clonedNode, newNode);
+        if (clonedNode != null) {
+            // then clone the sub-tree recursively
+            cloneTree(docNode, clonedNode, newNode);
+        }
 
         return clonedNode;
     }
@@ -166,4 +168,4 @@ public final class XmlUtil {
 
         return buffer.toString();
     }
-}
-\ No newline at end of file
+}