diff --git a/ExtendedWPFToolkitSolution/Src/Xceed.Wpf.Toolkit/MaskedTextBox/Implementation/MaskedTextBox.cs b/ExtendedWPFToolkitSolution/Src/Xceed.Wpf.Toolkit/MaskedTextBox/Implementation/MaskedTextBox.cs
index 4d68eedb..43e9d9d7 100644
--- a/ExtendedWPFToolkitSolution/Src/Xceed.Wpf.Toolkit/MaskedTextBox/Implementation/MaskedTextBox.cs
+++ b/ExtendedWPFToolkitSolution/Src/Xceed.Wpf.Toolkit/MaskedTextBox/Implementation/MaskedTextBox.cs
@@ -1441,7 +1441,7 @@ namespace Xceed.Wpf.Toolkit
 
     internal override bool GetIsEditTextEmpty()
     {
-      return ( this.MaskedTextProvider.AssignedEditPositionCount == 0 );
+      return MaskedTextProvider != null && (MaskedTextProvider.AssignedEditPositionCount == 0 );
     }
 
     #endregion INTERNAL PROPERTIES