diff --git a/src/plugins/qmldesigner/designercore/model/modelnode.cpp b/src/plugins/qmldesigner/designercore/model/modelnode.cpp
index e8283c4b4c6..61d0f93cf56 100644
--- a/src/plugins/qmldesigner/designercore/model/modelnode.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/qmldesigner/designercore/model/modelnode.cpp
@@ -944,6 +944,9 @@ bool ModelNode::hasNodeListProperty(const PropertyName &name) const
 
 static bool recursiveAncestor(const ModelNode &possibleAncestor, const ModelNode &node)
 {
+    if (!node.isValid())
+        return false;
+
     if (node.hasParentProperty()) {
         if (node.parentProperty().parentModelNode() == possibleAncestor)
            return true;