diff --git a/Altoholic/Altoholic.toc b/Altoholic/Altoholic.toc
index 4ab39a4..850bbe9 100644
--- a/Altoholic/Altoholic.toc
+++ b/Altoholic/Altoholic.toc
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 
 ## Author: Thaoky, Telkar-RG
 ## X-Edited-By: Exiles (Sub-Net) — florian.berthold@sub-net.at
-## Version: 3.3.002b-coa.15
+## Version: 3.3.002b-coa.16
 ## X-Category: Inventory, Tradeskill, Mail
 ## X-Localizations: enUS, frFR, zhCN, zhTW, deDE, koKR, esES, esMX, ruRU
 ## X-Website: http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/altoholic.aspx
diff --git a/Altoholic/Frames/Talents.lua b/Altoholic/Frames/Talents.lua
index 6d83670..1da5856 100644
--- a/Altoholic/Frames/Talents.lua
+++ b/Altoholic/Frames/Talents.lua
@@ -337,6 +337,7 @@ function tns:Update(treeIndex)
 
 	-- textures are 90.625% of the original size
 	local _, bg = DS:GetTreeInfo(class, treeName)
+	if not bg then return end		-- CoA: no talent-tree background for this class (e.g. custom class with no reference data)
 	AltoholicFrameTalents_bgTopLeft:SetTexture(bg.."-TopLeft")
 	AltoholicFrameTalents_bgTopRight:SetTexture(bg.."-TopRight")
 	AltoholicFrameTalents_bgBottomLeft:SetTexture(bg.."-BottomLeft")
diff --git a/DataStore_Talents/DataStore_Talents.lua b/DataStore_Talents/DataStore_Talents.lua
index d0fb5e6..430231b 100644
--- a/DataStore_Talents/DataStore_Talents.lua
+++ b/DataStore_Talents/DataStore_Talents.lua
@@ -239,9 +239,12 @@ local function	_GetClassReference(class)
 end
 
 local function _GetTreeReference(class, tree)
-	assert(type(class) == "string")
-	assert(type(tree) == "string")
-	return addon.ref.global[class].Trees[tree]
+	-- CoA: custom classes (MONK, etc.) may have no/partial talent reference data, so a
+	-- tree lookup can arrive with a nil tree name. Degrade to nil instead of asserting.
+	if type(class) ~= "string" or type(tree) ~= "string" then return end
+	local c = addon.ref.global[class]
+	if not c or not c.Trees then return end
+	return c.Trees[tree]
 end
 
 local function _IsClassKnown(class)