diff --git a/astrid/plugin-src/com/todoroo/astrid/subtasks/AstridOrderedListUpdater.java b/astrid/plugin-src/com/todoroo/astrid/subtasks/AstridOrderedListUpdater.java
index c0a4c100a..d8cf84285 100644
--- a/astrid/plugin-src/com/todoroo/astrid/subtasks/AstridOrderedListUpdater.java
+++ b/astrid/plugin-src/com/todoroo/astrid/subtasks/AstridOrderedListUpdater.java
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ import java.util.List;
 
 import org.json.JSONArray;
 import org.json.JSONException;
-import org.json.JSONObject;
 
 import android.util.Log;
 
@@ -316,21 +315,20 @@ public abstract class AstridOrderedListUpdater<LIST> {
     }
 
     private void recursivelyBuildChildren(Node node, JSONArray children) throws JSONException {
-        for (int i = 0; i < children.length(); i++) {
-            JSONObject childObj = children.getJSONObject(i);
-            JSONArray keys = childObj.names();
-            if (keys == null)
-                continue;
-
-            Long id = keys.getLong(0);
-            if (id <= 0)
-                continue;
-
-            JSONArray childsChildren = childObj.getJSONArray(Long.toString(id));
-            Node child = new Node(id, node, node.indent + 1);
-            recursivelyBuildChildren(child, childsChildren);
-            node.children.add(child);
-            idToNode.put(id, child);
+        for (int i = 1; i < children.length(); i++) {
+            JSONArray subarray = children.optJSONArray(i);
+            if (subarray == null) {
+                Long id = children.getLong(i);
+                Node child = new Node(id, node, node.indent + 1);
+                node.children.add(child);
+                idToNode.put(id, child);
+            } else {
+                Long id = subarray.getLong(0);
+                Node child = new Node(id, node, node.indent + 1);
+                recursivelyBuildChildren(child, subarray);
+                node.children.add(child);
+                idToNode.put(id, child);
+            }
         }
     }
 
@@ -341,21 +339,25 @@ public abstract class AstridOrderedListUpdater<LIST> {
         }
 
         try {
-            recursivelySerializeChildren(treeRoot, tree);
+            tree.put(-1L);
+            recursivelySerialize(treeRoot, tree);
         } catch (JSONException e) {
             Log.e("OrderedListUpdater", "Error serializing tree model", e);  //$NON-NLS-1$//$NON-NLS-2$
         }
         return tree.toString();
     }
 
-    public static void recursivelySerializeChildren(Node node, JSONArray serializeTo) throws JSONException {
+    public static void recursivelySerialize(Node node, JSONArray serializeTo) throws JSONException {
         ArrayList<Node> children = node.children;
+        serializeTo.put(node.taskId);
         for (Node child : children) {
-            JSONObject childObj = new JSONObject();
-            JSONArray childsChildren = new JSONArray();
-            recursivelySerializeChildren(child, childsChildren);
-            childObj.put(Long.toString(child.taskId), childsChildren);
-            serializeTo.put(childObj);
+            if (child.children.size() > 0) {
+                JSONArray branch = new JSONArray();
+                recursivelySerialize(child, branch);
+                serializeTo.put(branch);
+            } else {
+                serializeTo.put(child.taskId);
+            }
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/astrid/plugin-src/com/todoroo/astrid/subtasks/SubtasksMetadataMigration.java b/astrid/plugin-src/com/todoroo/astrid/subtasks/SubtasksMetadataMigration.java
index ef2b91929..ca363f8b4 100644
--- a/astrid/plugin-src/com/todoroo/astrid/subtasks/SubtasksMetadataMigration.java
+++ b/astrid/plugin-src/com/todoroo/astrid/subtasks/SubtasksMetadataMigration.java
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ public class SubtasksMetadataMigration {
 
         try {
             JSONArray array = new JSONArray();
-            AstridOrderedListUpdater.recursivelySerializeChildren(root, array);
+            AstridOrderedListUpdater.recursivelySerialize(root, array);
             return array.toString();
         } catch (JSONException e) {
             return "[]"; //$NON-NLS-1$
diff --git a/tests/src/com/todoroo/astrid/subtasks/SubtasksMigrationTest.java b/tests/src/com/todoroo/astrid/subtasks/SubtasksMigrationTest.java
index 1476d01f9..79f7554f2 100644
--- a/tests/src/com/todoroo/astrid/subtasks/SubtasksMigrationTest.java
+++ b/tests/src/com/todoroo/astrid/subtasks/SubtasksMigrationTest.java
@@ -95,8 +95,8 @@ public class SubtasksMigrationTest extends SubtasksTestCase {
      *  A
      */
 
-    private static final String ACTIVE_TASKS_TREE = "[{\"1\":[{\"2\":[]}]}, {\"3\":[{\"4\":[{\"5\":[]}]}, {\"6\":[]}]}]".replaceAll("\\s", "");
-    private static final String TAG_DATA_TREE = "[{\"6\":[]}, {\"5\":[{\"2\":[]}, {\"4\":[{\"3\":[]}]}]}, {\"1\":[]}]".replaceAll("\\s", "");
+    private static final String ACTIVE_TASKS_TREE = "[-1, [1, 2], [3, [4, 5], 6]]".replaceAll("\\s", "");
+    private static final String TAG_DATA_TREE = "[-1, 6, [5, 2, [4,3]], 1]".replaceAll("\\s", "");
 
     private void createAdvancedMetadata(TagData tagData) {
         createSubtasksMetadata(tagData, 6, 1, 0);
diff --git a/tests/src/com/todoroo/astrid/subtasks/SubtasksTestCase.java b/tests/src/com/todoroo/astrid/subtasks/SubtasksTestCase.java
index ac4fa5b6c..bd0112b56 100644
--- a/tests/src/com/todoroo/astrid/subtasks/SubtasksTestCase.java
+++ b/tests/src/com/todoroo/astrid/subtasks/SubtasksTestCase.java
@@ -26,8 +26,8 @@ public class SubtasksTestCase extends DatabaseTestCase {
     * E
     * F
     */
-    public static final String DEFAULT_SERIALIZED_TREE =
-        "[{\"1\":[{\"2\":[]}, {\"3\":[{\"4\":[]}]}]}, {\"5\":[]}, {\"6\":[]}]".replaceAll("\\s", "");
+    public static final String DEFAULT_SERIALIZED_TREE = "[-1, [1, 2, [3, 4]], 5, 6]".replaceAll("\\s", "");
+        //"[{\"1\":[{\"2\":[]}, {\"3\":[{\"4\":[]}]}]}, {\"5\":[]}, {\"6\":[]}]".replaceAll("\\s", "");
 
     @Override
     protected void setUp() throws Exception {
diff --git a/tests/src/com/todoroo/astrid/test/DatabaseTestCase.java b/tests/src/com/todoroo/astrid/test/DatabaseTestCase.java
index df78d600d..f8b0def93 100644
--- a/tests/src/com/todoroo/astrid/test/DatabaseTestCase.java
+++ b/tests/src/com/todoroo/astrid/test/DatabaseTestCase.java
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ package com.todoroo.astrid.test;
 
 import java.io.File;
 
+import com.todoroo.andlib.service.ContextManager;
 import com.todoroo.andlib.test.TodorooTestCaseWithInjector;
 import com.todoroo.astrid.dao.Database;
 import com.todoroo.astrid.legacy.AlarmDatabase;
@@ -38,6 +39,7 @@ public class DatabaseTestCase extends TodorooTestCaseWithInjector {
 	    super.setUp();
 
 		// empty out test databases
+	    assertNotNull(ContextManager.getContext());
 	    database.clear();
 		database.openForWriting();