diff --git a/unittests/test_sync_node.py b/unittests/test_sync_node.py
index 250d3a8ad3288d348abd95e149edf6249d265784..beb203062bf80bdd79522eb383ff653a1f955a95 100644
--- a/unittests/test_sync_node.py
+++ b/unittests/test_sync_node.py
@@ -164,30 +164,30 @@ def test_sync_node():
     # merge with conflicting information
     # ----------------------------------
     sn_a = SyncNode(db.Record(id=102))
-    with pytest.raises(AssertionError):
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError):
         sn_a.update(SyncNode(db.Record(id=101)))
 
     sn_a = SyncNode(db.Record(name='102'))
-    with pytest.raises(AssertionError):
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError):
         sn_a.update(SyncNode(db.Record(name='101')))
 
     sn_a = SyncNode(db.Record(name='102'))
-    with pytest.raises(AssertionError):
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError):
         sn_a.update(SyncNode(db.File(name='102')))
 
     sn_a = SyncNode(db.Record(description='102'))
-    with pytest.raises(AssertionError):
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError):
         sn_a.update(SyncNode(db.Record(description='101')))
 
     sn_a = SyncNode(db.File(path='102'))
-    with pytest.raises(AssertionError):
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError):
         sn_a.update(SyncNode(db.File(path='101')))
 
     sn_a = SyncNode(db.File(path='102'))
     sn_a.identifiable = Identifiable(name='a')
     sn_b.identifiable = Identifiable(name='b')
     sn_b = SyncNode(db.File(path='101'))
-    with pytest.raises(AssertionError):
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError):
         sn_a.update(sn_b)