diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/BoolFilterParser.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/BoolFilterParser.java
index cf7671f6bb1..2b85b2465ef 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/BoolFilterParser.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/BoolFilterParser.java
@@ -117,9 +117,9 @@ public class BoolFilterParser implements FilterParser {
             }
         }
 
-        if ((boolFilter.getMustFilters() != null && boolFilter.getMustFilters().isEmpty())
-                && (boolFilter.getNotFilters() != null && boolFilter.getNotFilters().isEmpty())
-                && (boolFilter.getShouldFilters() != null && boolFilter.getShouldFilters().isEmpty())) {
+        if ((boolFilter.getMustFilters() == null || boolFilter.getMustFilters().isEmpty())
+                && (boolFilter.getNotFilters() == null || boolFilter.getNotFilters().isEmpty())
+                && (boolFilter.getShouldFilters() == null || boolFilter.getShouldFilters().isEmpty())) {
             return null;
         }