diff --git a/code/DDLNode.cpp b/code/DDLNode.cpp
index ce10c1c..3955e3f 100644
--- a/code/DDLNode.cpp
+++ b/code/DDLNode.cpp
@@ -77,8 +77,8 @@ DDLNode::~DDLNode() {
     if( s_allocatedNodes[ m_idx ] == this ) {
         s_allocatedNodes[ m_idx ] = ddl_nullptr;
     }
-    for(size_t i = 0 ; i<m_children.size();i++){
-        delete m_children[i];
+    for ( size_t i = 0; i<m_children.size(); i++ ){
+        delete m_children[ i ];
     }
 }
 
@@ -94,9 +94,8 @@ void DDLNode::attachParent( DDLNode *parent ) {
 }
 
 void DDLNode::detachParent() {
-    if( m_parent ) {
-        std::vector<DDLNode*>::iterator it;
-        it = std::find( m_parent->m_children.begin(), m_parent->m_children.end(), this );
+    if( ddl_nullptr != m_parent ) {
+        DDLNodeIt it = std::find( m_parent->m_children.begin(), m_parent->m_children.end(), this );
         if( m_parent->m_children.end() != it ) {
             m_parent->m_children.erase( it );
         }
@@ -202,7 +201,7 @@ DDLNode *DDLNode::create( const std::string &type, const std::string &name, DDLN
 
 void DDLNode::releaseNodes() {
     if( s_allocatedNodes.size() > 0 ) {
-        for( DllNodeList::iterator it = s_allocatedNodes.begin(); it != s_allocatedNodes.end(); it++ ) {
+        for( DDLNodeIt it = s_allocatedNodes.begin(); it != s_allocatedNodes.end(); it++ ) {
             if( *it ) {
                 delete *it;
             }
diff --git a/include/openddlparser/DDLNode.h b/include/openddlparser/DDLNode.h
index 1371356..184cd01 100644
--- a/include/openddlparser/DDLNode.h
+++ b/include/openddlparser/DDLNode.h
@@ -53,6 +53,9 @@ class DLL_ODDLPARSER_EXPORT DDLNode {
     /// @brief  The child-node-list type.
     typedef std::vector<DDLNode*> DllNodeList;
 
+    /// @brief  The child-node-list iterator.
+    typedef std::vector<DDLNode*>::iterator DDLNodeIt;
+
 public:
     ///	@brief  The class destructor.
     ~DDLNode();
diff --git a/test/DDLNodeTest.cpp b/test/DDLNodeTest.cpp
index 9a0cd42..2e1f2ac 100644
--- a/test/DDLNodeTest.cpp
+++ b/test/DDLNodeTest.cpp
@@ -46,6 +46,22 @@ TEST_F( DDLNodeTest, createDDLNodeTest ) {
     delete myNode;
 }
 
+TEST_F( DDLNodeTest, attach_detach_parent_Test ) {
+    DDLNode *myParent = DDLNode::create( "parent", "" );
+    DDLNode *myChild  = DDLNode::create( "child", "" );
+    EXPECT_EQ( nullptr, myParent->getParent() );
+    myChild->attachParent( myParent );
+    EXPECT_EQ( myParent, myChild->getParent() );
+
+    myChild->detachParent();
+    EXPECT_EQ( nullptr, myChild->getParent() );
+
+    // must not fail
+    myChild->detachParent();
+    myParent->detachParent();
+    myParent->attachParent( nullptr );
+}
+
 TEST_F( DDLNodeTest, accessTypeTest ) {
     static const std::string type1 = "type";
     static const std::string name1 = "test";