diff --git a/salt/manager/tools/sbin/so-yaml.py b/salt/manager/tools/sbin/so-yaml.py
index fd5d8b056..6f412b725 100755
--- a/salt/manager/tools/sbin/so-yaml.py
+++ b/salt/manager/tools/sbin/so-yaml.py
@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@ def replacelistobject(args):
 def addKey(content, key, value):
     pieces = key.split(".", 1)
     if len(pieces) > 1:
-        if not pieces[0] in content:
+        if pieces[0] not in content or content[pieces[0]] is None:
             content[pieces[0]] = {}
         addKey(content[pieces[0]], pieces[1], value)
     elif key in content: