diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/server/endpoint/support/PayloadRootUtils.java b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/server/endpoint/support/PayloadRootUtils.java
index e4812508..12c65144 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/server/endpoint/support/PayloadRootUtils.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/server/endpoint/support/PayloadRootUtils.java
@@ -27,11 +27,12 @@ import javax.xml.transform.TransformerFactory;
 import javax.xml.transform.dom.DOMResult;
 import javax.xml.transform.dom.DOMSource;
 
-import org.springframework.xml.namespace.QNameUtils;
-import org.springframework.xml.transform.StaxSource;
 import org.w3c.dom.Document;
 import org.w3c.dom.Node;
 
+import org.springframework.xml.namespace.QNameUtils;
+import org.springframework.xml.transform.StaxSource;
+
 /**
  * Helper class for determining the root qualified name of a Web Service payload.
  *
@@ -49,11 +50,14 @@ public abstract class PayloadRootUtils {
      *
      * @param source             the source to get the root element from
      * @param transformerFactory a transformer factory, necessary if the given source is not a <code>DOMSource</code>
-     * @return the root element
+     * @return the root element, or <code>null</code> if <code>source</code> is <code>null</code>
      */
     public static QName getPayloadRootQName(Source source, TransformerFactory transformerFactory)
             throws TransformerException, XMLStreamException {
-        if (source instanceof DOMSource) {
+        if (source == null) {
+            return null;
+        }
+        else if (source instanceof DOMSource) {
             DOMSource domSource = (DOMSource) source;
             Node node = domSource.getNode();
             if (node.getNodeType() == Node.ELEMENT_NODE) {
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/springframework/ws/server/endpoint/support/PayloadRootUtilsTest.java b/core/src/test/java/org/springframework/ws/server/endpoint/support/PayloadRootUtilsTest.java
index 6c522765..83d7f31f 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/springframework/ws/server/endpoint/support/PayloadRootUtilsTest.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/springframework/ws/server/endpoint/support/PayloadRootUtilsTest.java
@@ -29,11 +29,12 @@ import javax.xml.transform.sax.SAXSource;
 import javax.xml.transform.stream.StreamSource;
 
 import junit.framework.TestCase;
-import org.springframework.xml.transform.StaxSource;
 import org.w3c.dom.Document;
 import org.w3c.dom.Element;
 import org.xml.sax.InputSource;
 
+import org.springframework.xml.transform.StaxSource;
+
 public class PayloadRootUtilsTest extends TestCase {
 
     public void testGetQNameForDomSource() throws Exception {
@@ -81,4 +82,9 @@ public class PayloadRootUtilsTest extends TestCase {
         assertEquals("Qname has invalid namespace", "namespace", qName.getNamespaceURI());
         assertEquals("Qname has invalid prefix", "prefix", qName.getPrefix());
     }
+
+    public void testGetQNameForNullSource() throws Exception {
+        QName qName = PayloadRootUtils.getPayloadRootQName(null, TransformerFactory.newInstance());
+        assertNull("Qname returned", qName);
+    }
 }
\ No newline at end of file