diff --git a/spring-data-mongodb/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/core/MongoTemplate.java b/spring-data-mongodb/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/core/MongoTemplate.java
index fca57dd5d..252b4e77d 100644
--- a/spring-data-mongodb/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/core/MongoTemplate.java
+++ b/spring-data-mongodb/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/mongodb/core/MongoTemplate.java
@@ -2740,8 +2740,13 @@ public class MongoTemplate implements MongoOperations, ApplicationContextAware,
 		public void close() {
 
 			MongoCursor<Document> c = cursor;
+
 			try {
-				c.close();
+
+				if (c != null) {
+					c.close();
+				}
+
 			} catch (RuntimeException ex) {
 				throw potentiallyConvertRuntimeException(ex, exceptionTranslator);
 			} finally {