diff --git a/src/plugins/qmldesigner/designercore/model/qmlanchors.cpp b/src/plugins/qmldesigner/designercore/model/qmlanchors.cpp
index 1df6106b95a2a98e0610e117a9d0454166163c3d..57f5368641c4a6aea7a31d239dafddd7dbeb26e2 100644
--- a/src/plugins/qmldesigner/designercore/model/qmlanchors.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/qmldesigner/designercore/model/qmlanchors.cpp
@@ -326,7 +326,9 @@ AnchorLine QmlAnchors::instanceAnchor(AnchorLine::Type sourceAnchorLine) const
     if (targetAnchorLine == AnchorLine::Invalid )
         return AnchorLine();
 
-    Q_ASSERT(targetAnchorLinePair.second.isValid());
+    if (!targetAnchorLinePair.second.isValid()) //there might be no node instance for the parent
+        return AnchorLine();
+
     return AnchorLine(QmlItemNode(qmlItemNode().nodeForInstance(targetAnchorLinePair.second)), targetAnchorLine);
 }