diff --git a/frappe/modules/utils.py b/frappe/modules/utils.py
index b06297023e..44c986e80c 100644
--- a/frappe/modules/utils.py
+++ b/frappe/modules/utils.py
@@ -242,7 +242,7 @@ def make_boilerplate(template, doc, opts=None):
 
 		base_class = 'Document'
 		base_class_import = 'from frappe.model.document import Document'
-		if doc.is_tree:
+		if hasattr(doc, "is_tree"):
 			base_class = 'NestedSet'
 			base_class_import = 'from frappe.utils.nestedset import NestedSet'