diff --git a/src/runtime/classderived.cs b/src/runtime/classderived.cs
index e55e89240..7de34420f 100644
--- a/src/runtime/classderived.cs
+++ b/src/runtime/classderived.cs
@@ -857,7 +857,7 @@ public static void Finalize(IPythonDerivedType obj)
             {
                 if (0 == Runtime.Py_IsInitialized() || Runtime.IsFinalizing)
                 {
-                    self.gcHandle.Free();
+                    if (self.gcHandle.IsAllocated) self.gcHandle.Free();
                     return;
                 }
             }
@@ -872,7 +872,7 @@ public static void Finalize(IPythonDerivedType obj)
                     // If python's been terminated then just free the gchandle.
                     if (0 == Runtime.Py_IsInitialized() || Runtime.IsFinalizing)
                     {
-                        self.gcHandle.Free();
+                        if (self.gcHandle.IsAllocated) self.gcHandle.Free();
                         return;
                     }