diff --git a/src/main/java/com/github/jasminb/jsonapi/ResourceConverter.java b/src/main/java/com/github/jasminb/jsonapi/ResourceConverter.java
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/github/jasminb/jsonapi/ResourceConverter.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/github/jasminb/jsonapi/ResourceConverter.java
@@ -819,8 +819,9 @@ public class ResourceConverter {
 			for (Field relationshipField : relationshipFields) {
 				Object relationshipObject = relationshipField.get(object);
 
+				removeField(attributesNode, relationshipField);
+
 				if (relationshipObject != null) {
-					removeField(attributesNode, relationshipField);
 
 					Relationship relationship = configuration.getFieldRelationship(relationshipField);
Always removing relationship field (also if it has a null null) as it should never be part of attributes (#<I>)