diff --git a/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/DetailAstImpl.java b/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/DetailAstImpl.java
index 9962b789511e..93d790c3a32e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/DetailAstImpl.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/DetailAstImpl.java
@@ -374,6 +374,11 @@ public DetailAstImpl getFirstChild() {
         return (DetailAstImpl) super.getFirstChild();
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public boolean hasChildren() {
+        return getFirstChild() != null;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Clears the child count for the ast instance.
      * @param ast The ast to clear.
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/api/DetailAST.java b/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/api/DetailAST.java
index 44de0dcb42fe..b951b7c5180c 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/api/DetailAST.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/api/DetailAST.java
@@ -118,4 +118,10 @@ public interface DetailAST {
      */
     int getNumberOfChildren();
 
+    /**
+     * Returns whether this AST has any children.
+     *
+     * @return {@code true} if this AST has any children.
+     */
+    boolean hasChildren();
 }
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/DetailAstImplTest.java b/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/DetailAstImplTest.java
index 7d9ed7e0f3bf..b5aa0d90ac7c 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/DetailAstImplTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/DetailAstImplTest.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 
 package com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle;
 
+import static com.google.common.truth.Truth.assertWithMessage;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertFalse;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertNotNull;
@@ -134,6 +135,22 @@ public void testGetChildCount() throws Exception {
         assertEquals(firstLevelA, firstLevelB.getPreviousSibling(), "Invalid previous sibling");
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testHasChildren() throws Exception {
+        final DetailAstImpl root = new DetailAstImpl();
+        final DetailAstImpl child = new DetailAstImpl();
+
+        root.setFirstChild(child);
+        getSetParentMethod().invoke(child, root);
+
+        assertWithMessage("Root node should have children")
+                .that(root.hasChildren())
+                .isTrue();
+        assertWithMessage("Child node should have no children")
+                .that(child.hasChildren())
+                .isFalse();
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void testGetChildCountType() throws Exception {
         final DetailAstImpl root = new DetailAstImpl();