diff --git a/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/deploy/BeanProperty.java b/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/deploy/BeanProperty.java
index bb0911b11..ef7cbb403 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/deploy/BeanProperty.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/avaje/ebeaninternal/server/deploy/BeanProperty.java
@@ -315,7 +315,7 @@ public class BeanProperty implements ElPropertyValue {
     if (softDelete) {
       ScalarTypeBoolean.BooleanBase boolType = (ScalarTypeBoolean.BooleanBase)scalarType;
       this.softDeleteDbSet = dbColumn+"="+boolType.getDbTrueLiteral();
-      this.softDeleteDbPredicate = dbColumn+"="+boolType.getDbFalseLiteral();
+      this.softDeleteDbPredicate = "."+dbColumn+","+boolType.getDbFalseLiteral()+")="+boolType.getDbFalseLiteral();
     } else {
       this.softDeleteDbSet = null;
       this.softDeleteDbPredicate = null;
@@ -650,7 +650,8 @@ public class BeanProperty implements ElPropertyValue {
    * Return the DB literal predicate used to filter out soft deleted rows from a query.
    */
   public String getSoftDeleteDbPredicate(String tableAlias) {
-    return tableAlias+"."+softDeleteDbPredicate;
+    // use coalesce to handle null values from optional relationships
+    return "coalesce(" + tableAlias + softDeleteDbPredicate;
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/avaje/tests/model/softdelete/ESoftDelMid.java b/src/test/java/com/avaje/tests/model/softdelete/ESoftDelMid.java
index 499d33e40..2596583a0 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/avaje/tests/model/softdelete/ESoftDelMid.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/avaje/tests/model/softdelete/ESoftDelMid.java
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package com.avaje.tests.model.softdelete;
 
 import javax.persistence.CascadeType;
 import javax.persistence.Entity;
-import javax.persistence.ManyToMany;
 import javax.persistence.ManyToOne;
 import javax.persistence.OneToMany;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -10,7 +9,7 @@ import java.util.List;
 @Entity
 public class ESoftDelMid extends BaseSoftDelete {
 
-  @ManyToOne(optional = false)
+  @ManyToOne
   ESoftDelTop top;
 
   String mid;
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/avaje/tests/softdelete/TestSoftDeleteBasic.java b/src/test/java/com/avaje/tests/softdelete/TestSoftDeleteBasic.java
index 83284c385..719b986ad 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/avaje/tests/softdelete/TestSoftDeleteBasic.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/avaje/tests/softdelete/TestSoftDeleteBasic.java
@@ -135,8 +135,8 @@ public class TestSoftDeleteBasic extends BaseTestCase {
     String generatedSql = query1.getGeneratedSql();
 
     // first statement is a single bulk update of the children with SoftDelete
-    assertThat(generatedSql).contains("t0.deleted=");
-    assertThat(generatedSql).contains("t1.deleted=");
+    assertThat(generatedSql).contains("coalesce(t0.deleted,");
+    assertThat(generatedSql).contains("coalesce(t1.deleted,");
     assertThat(fetch1.get(0).getChildren()).hasSize(2);
 
     assertThat(fetch1.get(0).getNosdChildren()).hasSize(2);
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/avaje/tests/softdelete/TestSoftDeleteOptionalRelationship.java b/src/test/java/com/avaje/tests/softdelete/TestSoftDeleteOptionalRelationship.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..916299bff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/com/avaje/tests/softdelete/TestSoftDeleteOptionalRelationship.java
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+package com.avaje.tests.softdelete;
+
+import com.avaje.ebean.BaseTestCase;
+import com.avaje.ebean.Ebean;
+import com.avaje.tests.model.softdelete.ESoftDelMid;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import static org.assertj.core.api.StrictAssertions.assertThat;
+
+public class TestSoftDeleteOptionalRelationship extends BaseTestCase {
+
+  @Test
+  public void testFindWhenNullRelationship() {
+
+    ESoftDelMid mid1 = new ESoftDelMid(null, "mid1");
+    Ebean.save(mid1);
+
+    ESoftDelMid bean = Ebean.find(ESoftDelMid.class)
+        .setId(mid1.getId())
+        .fetch("top")
+        .findUnique();
+
+    assertThat(bean).isNotNull();
+    assertThat(bean.getTop()).isNull();
+  }
+
+
+}