diff --git a/src/Spring/Spring.Core/Objects/Factory/Support/AbstractObjectFactory.cs b/src/Spring/Spring.Core/Objects/Factory/Support/AbstractObjectFactory.cs
index b4bd41f0..0cbd2ec1 100644
--- a/src/Spring/Spring.Core/Objects/Factory/Support/AbstractObjectFactory.cs
+++ b/src/Spring/Spring.Core/Objects/Factory/Support/AbstractObjectFactory.cs
@@ -1507,7 +1507,10 @@ namespace Spring.Objects.Factory.Support
                     return pof.IsSingleton( OriginalObjectName( name ) );
                 }
                 RootObjectDefinition od = GetMergedObjectDefinition( objectName, false );
-
+                if (od == null)
+                {
+                    throw new NoSuchObjectDefinitionException(objectName);
+                }
                 // In case of IFactoryObject, return singleton status of created object if not a dereference
                 if (od.IsSingleton)
                 {
diff --git a/src/Spring/Spring.Core/Objects/Factory/Support/DefaultListableObjectFactory.cs b/src/Spring/Spring.Core/Objects/Factory/Support/DefaultListableObjectFactory.cs
index 63e9fd50..af4c3194 100644
--- a/src/Spring/Spring.Core/Objects/Factory/Support/DefaultListableObjectFactory.cs
+++ b/src/Spring/Spring.Core/Objects/Factory/Support/DefaultListableObjectFactory.cs
@@ -596,7 +596,7 @@ namespace Spring.Objects.Factory.Support
                         ((AbstractObjectFactory) ParentObjectFactory).GetObjectDefinition(name, includeAncestors);
                 }
             }
-            return definition;
+            return definition;            
         }
 
         #endregion
diff --git a/test/Spring/Spring.Core.Tests/Context/Support/XmlApplicationContextTests.cs b/test/Spring/Spring.Core.Tests/Context/Support/XmlApplicationContextTests.cs
index 48da4adc..17934d2a 100644
--- a/test/Spring/Spring.Core.Tests/Context/Support/XmlApplicationContextTests.cs
+++ b/test/Spring/Spring.Core.Tests/Context/Support/XmlApplicationContextTests.cs
@@ -35,6 +35,27 @@ namespace Spring.Context.Support
     [TestFixture]
     public sealed class XmlApplicationContextTests
     {
+        [Test]
+        public void InnerObjectWithPostProcessing()
+        {
+           try
+            {
+                XmlApplicationContext ctx = new XmlApplicationContext(false, "assembly://Spring.Core.Tests/Spring.Context.Support/innerObjectsWithPostProcessor.xml");           
+                ctx.GetObject("hasInnerObjects");
+            } catch (System.NullReferenceException e)
+            {
+                Assert.Fail("Should not throw NullReferenceException",e);
+            } catch (ObjectCreationException e)
+            {
+                NoSuchObjectDefinitionException ex = e.InnerException as NoSuchObjectDefinitionException;
+                Assert.IsNotNull(ex);
+                //Pass   
+            } catch (Exception e)
+            {
+                Assert.Fail("Expect only ObjectCreationException to be thrown", e);
+            }
+        }
+
         [Test]
         public void SingleConfigLocation()
         {
@@ -346,6 +367,37 @@ namespace Spring.Context.Support
             #endregion
         }
 
+        #endregion
+    }
+    public class SingletonTestingObjectPostProcessor : IObjectPostProcessor, IApplicationContextAware
+    {
+        private IApplicationContext applicationContext;
+        #region IObjectPostProcessor Members
+
+        public object PostProcessBeforeInitialization(object instance, string name)
+        {
+            return instance;
+        }
+
+        public object PostProcessAfterInitialization(object instance, string objectName)
+        {
+            Console.WriteLine("post process " + objectName);
+            if (this.applicationContext.IsSingleton(objectName))
+            {
+                return instance;
+            }
+            return instance;
+        }
+
+        #endregion
+
+        #region IApplicationContextAware Members
+
+        public IApplicationContext ApplicationContext
+        {
+            set { this.applicationContext = value; }
+        }
+
         #endregion
     }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/Spring/Spring.Core.Tests/Context/Support/innerObjectsWithPostProcessor.xml b/test/Spring/Spring.Core.Tests/Context/Support/innerObjectsWithPostProcessor.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fd32386a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/Spring/Spring.Core.Tests/Context/Support/innerObjectsWithPostProcessor.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
+<objects xmlns="http://www.springframework.net">
+
+
+  <object id="objectPostProcessor" type="Spring.Context.Support.SingletonTestingObjectPostProcessor, Spring.Core.Tests"/>
+  
+  <object id="hasInnerObjects" type="Spring.Objects.TestObject, Spring.Core.Tests">
+  <constructor-arg>
+    <value>hasInner</value>
+  </constructor-arg>
+  <constructor-arg index="1" type="System.Int32">
+    <value>5</value>
+  </constructor-arg>
+  <property name="spouse">
+    <object type="Spring.Objects.TestObject, Spring.Core.Tests">
+      <property name="name">
+        <value>inner1</value>
+      </property>
+      <property name="age">
+        <value>6</value>
+      </property>
+    </object>
+  </property>
+</object>
+    
+</objects>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/Spring/Spring.Core.Tests/Objects/Factory/Xml/XmlObjectFactoryTests.cs b/test/Spring/Spring.Core.Tests/Objects/Factory/Xml/XmlObjectFactoryTests.cs
index ca91ab8c..97216537 100644
--- a/test/Spring/Spring.Core.Tests/Objects/Factory/Xml/XmlObjectFactoryTests.cs
+++ b/test/Spring/Spring.Core.Tests/Objects/Factory/Xml/XmlObjectFactoryTests.cs
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ using Common.Logging;
 using Common.Logging.Simple;
 using DotNetMock.Dynamic;
 using NUnit.Framework;
+using Spring.Context;
 using Spring.Context.Support;
 using Spring.Core.IO;
 using Spring.Core.TypeResolution;
@@ -560,6 +561,7 @@ namespace Spring.Objects.Factory.Xml
             Assert.IsTrue(davesJen == jen, "1 jen instance");
         }
 
+
         [Test]
         public void InnerObjects()
         {
@@ -2042,4 +2044,6 @@ namespace Spring.Objects.Factory.Xml
 
         #endregion
     }
+
+  
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/Spring/Spring.Core.Tests/Spring.Core.Tests.2008.csproj b/test/Spring/Spring.Core.Tests/Spring.Core.Tests.2008.csproj
index 65d51fe2..9a08df84 100644
--- a/test/Spring/Spring.Core.Tests/Spring.Core.Tests.2008.csproj
+++ b/test/Spring/Spring.Core.Tests/Spring.Core.Tests.2008.csproj
@@ -757,6 +757,7 @@
     <EmbeddedResource Include="Context\Support\invalidType.xml" />
     <EmbeddedResource Include="Core\TypeResolution\aliasedObjects.xml" />
     <EmbeddedResource Include="Core\IO\TestResource.txt" />
+    <EmbeddedResource Include="Context\Support\innerObjectsWithPostProcessor.xml" />
     <EmbeddedResource Include="Core\IO\ConfigSectionResourceTests_config1.xml" />
     <Content Include="Data\PathMatcher\EmptyPattern.test" />
     <Content Include="Data\PathMatcher\Examples.test" />
@@ -886,4 +887,4 @@
 xcopy "$(ProjectDir)Data" ..\..\..\..\build\VS.Net.2008\Spring.Core.Tests\$(ConfigurationName)\ /y /s /q /d
 xcopy "$(ProjectDir)$(TargetFileName).config" ..\..\..\..\build\VS.Net.2008\Spring.Core.Tests\$(ConfigurationName)\ /y /s /q</PostBuildEvent>
   </PropertyGroup>
-</Project>
\ No newline at end of file
+</Project>