diff --git a/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/querydefn/OrmQueryDetail.java b/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/querydefn/OrmQueryDetail.java
index d96c7f91f..7af5d97ac 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/querydefn/OrmQueryDetail.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/querydefn/OrmQueryDetail.java
@@ -298,15 +298,18 @@ public class OrmQueryDetail implements Serializable {
     fetch(new OrmQueryProperties(path, properties));
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Sort the fetch paths into depth order adding any missing parent paths if necessary.
+   */
   public void sortFetchPaths(BeanDescriptor<?> d) {
 
-    LinkedHashMap<String, OrmQueryProperties> sorted = new LinkedHashMap<String, OrmQueryProperties>();
-
-    for (OrmQueryProperties p : fetchPaths.values()) {
-      sortFetchPaths(d, p, sorted);
+    if (!fetchPaths.isEmpty()) {
+      LinkedHashMap<String, OrmQueryProperties> sorted = new LinkedHashMap<String, OrmQueryProperties>();
+      for (OrmQueryProperties p : fetchPaths.values()) {
+        sortFetchPaths(d, p, sorted);
+      }
+      fetchPaths = sorted;
     }
-
-    fetchPaths = sorted;
   }
 
   private void sortFetchPaths(BeanDescriptor<?> d, OrmQueryProperties p, LinkedHashMap<String, OrmQueryProperties> sorted) {
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/querydefn/OrmQueryDetailTest.java b/src/test/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/querydefn/OrmQueryDetailTest.java
index 55c7bfd98..9a3b4edea 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/querydefn/OrmQueryDetailTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/querydefn/OrmQueryDetailTest.java
@@ -166,6 +166,40 @@ public class OrmQueryDetailTest extends BaseTestCase {
     assertThat(detail.getChunk("customer.contacts", false).isQueryFetch()).isTrue();
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void sortFetchPaths_when_missingParent_expect_addsMissing() {
+
+    OrmQueryDetail detail = new OrmQueryDetail();
+    detail.fetch("customer.contacts", null, null);
+
+    detail.sortFetchPaths(orderDesc());
+
+    assertThat(detail.getFetchPaths()).containsExactly("customer","customer.contacts");
+    assertThat(detail.getChunk("customer",false).getIncluded()).containsExactly("id");
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void sortFetchPaths_when_outOfOrder_expect_correctOrder() {
+
+    OrmQueryDetail detail = new OrmQueryDetail();
+    detail.fetch("customer.contacts", "email", null);
+    detail.fetch("customer", "name", null);
+
+    detail.sortFetchPaths(orderDesc());
+
+    assertThat(detail.getFetchPaths()).containsExactly("customer","customer.contacts");
+    assertThat(detail.getChunk("customer",false).getIncluded()).containsExactly("name");
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void sortFetchPaths_when_empty_expect_stillEmpty() {
+
+    OrmQueryDetail detail = new OrmQueryDetail();
+    detail.sortFetchPaths(orderDesc());
+
+    assertThat(detail.getFetchPaths()).isEmpty();
+  }
+
   BeanDescriptor<Order> orderDesc() {
     return getBeanDescriptor(Order.class);
   }