diff --git a/parser.c b/parser.c
index 1ce1ccf1..26d9f4e3 100644
--- a/parser.c
+++ b/parser.c
@@ -13894,7 +13894,8 @@ xmlParseBalancedChunkMemoryRecover(xmlDocPtr doc, xmlSAXHandlerPtr sax,
     xmlFreeParserCtxt(ctxt);
     newDoc->intSubset = NULL;
     newDoc->extSubset = NULL;
-    newDoc->oldNs = NULL;
+    if(doc != NULL)
+	newDoc->oldNs = NULL;
     xmlFreeDoc(newDoc);
 
     return(ret);