diff --git a/libraries/entities/src/EntityEditPacketSender.cpp b/libraries/entities/src/EntityEditPacketSender.cpp
index 00f85f5078..7845b0d5e3 100644
--- a/libraries/entities/src/EntityEditPacketSender.cpp
+++ b/libraries/entities/src/EntityEditPacketSender.cpp
@@ -60,8 +60,10 @@ void EntityEditPacketSender::queueEditAvatarEntityMessage(PacketType type,
 
     // the ID of the parent/avatar changes from session to session.  use a special UUID to indicate the avatar
     QJsonObject jsonObject = jsonProperties.object();
-    if (QUuid(jsonObject["parentID"].toString()) == _myAvatar->getID()) {
-        jsonObject["parentID"] = AVATAR_SELF_ID.toString();
+    if (jsonObject.contains("parentID")) {
+        if (QUuid(jsonObject["parentID"].toString()) == _myAvatar->getID()) {
+            jsonObject["parentID"] = AVATAR_SELF_ID.toString();
+        }
     }
     jsonProperties = QJsonDocument(jsonObject);