diff --git a/Sofa/Component/SceneUtility/src/sofa/component/sceneutility/MessageHandlerComponent.cpp b/Sofa/Component/SceneUtility/src/sofa/component/sceneutility/MessageHandlerComponent.cpp
index 56c54d9da54..90ac4caf386 100644
--- a/Sofa/Component/SceneUtility/src/sofa/component/sceneutility/MessageHandlerComponent.cpp
+++ b/Sofa/Component/SceneUtility/src/sofa/component/sceneutility/MessageHandlerComponent.cpp
@@ -115,9 +115,11 @@ FileMessageHandlerComponent::FileMessageHandlerComponent() :
 
 FileMessageHandlerComponent::~FileMessageHandlerComponent()
 {
-    MessageDispatcher::rmHandler(m_handler) ;
-
-    delete m_handler ;
+    if (m_handler)
+    {
+        MessageDispatcher::rmHandler(m_handler) ;
+        delete m_handler ;
+    }
 }
 
 void FileMessageHandlerComponent::parse ( core::objectmodel::BaseObjectDescription* arg )
diff --git a/Sofa/Component/SceneUtility/src/sofa/component/sceneutility/MessageHandlerComponent.h b/Sofa/Component/SceneUtility/src/sofa/component/sceneutility/MessageHandlerComponent.h
index cd2187d2aa9..b2d3f946f39 100644
--- a/Sofa/Component/SceneUtility/src/sofa/component/sceneutility/MessageHandlerComponent.h
+++ b/Sofa/Component/SceneUtility/src/sofa/component/sceneutility/MessageHandlerComponent.h
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ class SOFA_COMPONENT_SCENEUTILITY_API FileMessageHandlerComponent : public core:
     void parse ( core::objectmodel::BaseObjectDescription* arg ) override;
 
     Data<std::string>        d_filename        ; ///< Name of the file into which the message will be saved in.
-    helper::logging::MessageHandler*     m_handler         ;
+    helper::logging::MessageHandler*     m_handler { nullptr };
 
 
     bool                m_isValid    ;