diff --git a/include/Tree/tree.hpp b/include/Tree/tree.hpp
index a6fd400..16171b2 100644
--- a/include/Tree/tree.hpp
+++ b/include/Tree/tree.hpp
@@ -168,7 +168,13 @@ namespace Tree
     *
     * @param c - a shared_ptr to a BaseNode
     */
-    void addChild(const std::shared_ptr<Tree::BaseNode> &c) {c->setParent(shared_from_this()); children.push_back(c); }
+    void addChild(const std::shared_ptr<Tree::BaseNode> &c) {
+              if (c!=nullptr)
+              {
+                c->setParent(shared_from_this());
+                children.push_back(c);
+              }
+    }
 
 
     /**