diff --git a/lib/fko_funcs.c b/lib/fko_funcs.c
index 6e12c5c3..8c75d67b 100644
--- a/lib/fko_funcs.c
+++ b/lib/fko_funcs.c
@@ -184,6 +184,7 @@ fko_new_with_data(fko_ctx_t *r_ctx, char *enc_msg, char *dec_key)
         if(res != FKO_SUCCESS)
         {
             fko_destroy(ctx);
+            *r_ctx = NULL; /* Make sure the caller ctx is null just in case */
             return(res);
         }
     }
diff --git a/lib/fko_state.h b/lib/fko_state.h
index ea22eacc..dacc0e0e 100644
--- a/lib/fko_state.h
+++ b/lib/fko_state.h
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ typedef enum {
 
 /* Macros used for determining ctx initialization state.
 */
-#define CTX_INITIALIZED(ctx) (ctx->initval == FKO_CTX_INITIALIZED)
+#define CTX_INITIALIZED(ctx) (ctx != NULL && ctx->initval == FKO_CTX_INITIALIZED)
 
 #endif /* FKO_STATE_H */
 
diff --git a/server/incoming_spa.c b/server/incoming_spa.c
index ea45324c..5bdbf72a 100644
--- a/server/incoming_spa.c
+++ b/server/incoming_spa.c
@@ -33,7 +33,11 @@
 int
 incoming_spa(fko_srv_options_t *opts)
 {
-    fko_ctx_t       ctx;
+    /* Always a good idea to initialize ctx to null if it will be used
+     * repeatedly (especially when using fko_new_with_data().
+    */
+    fko_ctx_t       ctx = NULL;
+
     char            *spa_ip_demark;
     char            spa_msg_src_ip[16];
     char            spa_msg_remain[1024]; /* --DSS should not have arbitrary limit */
@@ -372,7 +376,9 @@ display_ctx(ctx);
 
 
 clean_and_bail:
-    fko_destroy(ctx);
+    if(ctx != NULL)
+        fko_destroy(ctx);
+
     return(res);
 }