diff --git a/example/tests/test_views.py b/example/tests/test_views.py
index 3f14c031..c8221077 100644
--- a/example/tests/test_views.py
+++ b/example/tests/test_views.py
@@ -145,6 +145,22 @@ def test_delete_to_one_relationship_should_fail(self):
         response = self.client.delete(url, data=json.dumps(request_data), content_type='application/vnd.api+json')
         assert response.status_code == 405, response.content.decode()
 
+    def test_delete_relationship_overriding_with_none(self):
+        url = '/comments/{}'.format(self.second_comment.id)
+        request_data = {
+            'data': {
+                'type': 'comments',
+                'relationships': {
+                    'author': {
+                        'data': None
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        response = self.client.patch(url, data=json.dumps(request_data), content_type='application/vnd.api+json')
+        assert response.status_code == 200, response.content.decode()
+        assert response.data['author'] == None
+
     def test_delete_to_many_relationship_with_no_change(self):
         url = '/entries/{}/relationships/comment_set'.format(self.first_entry.id)
         request_data = {
diff --git a/example/urls_test.py b/example/urls_test.py
index 96f415fd..0f8ed73b 100644
--- a/example/urls_test.py
+++ b/example/urls_test.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 from django.conf.urls import include, url
 from rest_framework import routers
 
-from example.views import BlogViewSet, EntryViewSet, AuthorViewSet, EntryRelationshipView, BlogRelationshipView, \
+from example.views import BlogViewSet, EntryViewSet, AuthorViewSet, CommentViewSet, EntryRelationshipView, BlogRelationshipView, \
     CommentRelationshipView, AuthorRelationshipView
 from .api.resources.identity import Identity, GenericIdentity
 
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 router.register(r'blogs', BlogViewSet)
 router.register(r'entries', EntryViewSet)
 router.register(r'authors', AuthorViewSet)
+router.register(r'comments', CommentViewSet)
 
 # for the old tests
 router.register(r'identities', Identity)
diff --git a/rest_framework_json_api/parsers.py b/rest_framework_json_api/parsers.py
index a918aaeb..30b9ad0e 100644
--- a/rest_framework_json_api/parsers.py
+++ b/rest_framework_json_api/parsers.py
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ def parse_relationships(data):
         parsed_relationships = dict()
         for field_name, field_data in relationships.items():
             field_data = field_data.get('data')
-            if isinstance(field_data, dict):
+            if isinstance(field_data, dict) or field_data is None:
                 parsed_relationships[field_name] = field_data
             elif isinstance(field_data, list):
                 parsed_relationships[field_name] = list(relation for relation in field_data)