Acer plant may be dead!

Hello everyone.
I was given an Acer plant as a gift and all of the leaves have since fallen off. Most of the leaves fell off prior to the frost we have had. Does this mean that my poor Acer is dead / dying? What can I do....buy another and not tell the people that bought it for me?
Any help would be superb.
Thanks......Blue Fingers.

 

Acers are decidious and so would drop their leaves anyway...if its not in a place where it will get frozen solid as a young plant, then it should sprout again in the spring

 

I too have an Acer and it's leaves have fallen off too. Don't worry it's decidious

 

Thank you very much the info....great news!

 

You may find there is some dieback as the ends of the branches turn grey. This is quite normal, snip them off in spring.

 

Scratch the bark with your finger nail, if it's
green underneath, as said earlier, it will reshoot
again in the spring. If it's brown it's dead.

 

In my experience, in general, if a plant drops its leaves, then its not dead. If the leaves die and are still attached, then its probably dead.