diff --git a/src/app/script/layer_class.cpp b/src/app/script/layer_class.cpp
index a8f0872a2..8a4bb06d9 100644
--- a/src/app/script/layer_class.cpp
+++ b/src/app/script/layer_class.cpp
@@ -331,7 +331,9 @@ int Layer_set_parent(lua_State* L)
       return luaL_error(L, "the given parent is not a layer group or sprite");
   }
 
-  if (parent == layer)
+  if (!parent)
+    return luaL_error(L, "parent cannot be nil");
+  else if (parent == layer)
     return luaL_error(L, "the parent of a layer cannot be the layer itself");
 
   // TODO Why? should we be able to do this? It would require some hard work: