diff --git a/lib/jira/base.rb b/lib/jira/base.rb
index 52c6dbf3..d0a184fc 100644
--- a/lib/jira/base.rb
+++ b/lib/jira/base.rb
@@ -396,6 +396,7 @@ def set_attrs(hash, clobber = true, target = nil)
       else
         hash.each do |k, v|
           if v.is_a?(Hash)
+            target[k] = {} if !target.key?(k) || target[k].nil?
             set_attrs(v, clobber, target[k])
           else
             target[k] = v