diff --git a/gnucash/gnome-search/dialog-search.c b/gnucash/gnome-search/dialog-search.c
index 82501bcfc2..a7f1bdc32b 100644
--- a/gnucash/gnome-search/dialog-search.c
+++ b/gnucash/gnome-search/dialog-search.c
@@ -478,8 +478,10 @@ search_update_query (GNCSearchWindow *sw)
         if (pdata)
         {
             q2 = create_query_fragment(sw->search_for, GNC_SEARCH_PARAM (data->param), pdata);
-            q = qof_query_merge (q, q2, op);
+            new_q = qof_query_merge (q, q2, op);
+            qof_query_destroy (q);
             qof_query_destroy (q2);
+            q = new_q;
         }
     }