diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/server/endpoint/adapter/method/Dom4jPayloadMethodProcessor.java b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/server/endpoint/adapter/method/Dom4jPayloadMethodProcessor.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..94e68159
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/server/endpoint/adapter/method/Dom4jPayloadMethodProcessor.java
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2005-2010 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.springframework.ws.server.endpoint.adapter.method;
+
+import javax.xml.transform.Source;
+import javax.xml.transform.TransformerException;
+import javax.xml.transform.dom.DOMSource;
+
+import org.springframework.core.MethodParameter;
+
+import org.dom4j.Document;
+import org.dom4j.Element;
+import org.dom4j.io.DOMReader;
+import org.dom4j.io.DocumentResult;
+import org.dom4j.io.DocumentSource;
+
+/**
+ * Implementation of {@link MethodArgumentResolver} and {@link MethodReturnValueHandler} that supports dom4j
+ * {@linkplain Element elements}.
+ *
+ * @author Arjen Poutsma
+ * @since 2.0
+ */
+public class Dom4jPayloadMethodProcessor extends AbstractPayloadMethodProcessor {
+
+    @Override
+    protected boolean supportsRequestPayloadParameter(MethodParameter parameter) {
+        return supports(parameter);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected Object resolveRequestPayloadArgument(Source requestPayload, MethodParameter parameter)
+            throws TransformerException {
+        if (requestPayload instanceof DOMSource) {
+            org.w3c.dom.Node node = ((DOMSource) requestPayload).getNode();
+            if (node.getNodeType() == org.w3c.dom.Node.DOCUMENT_NODE) {
+                DOMReader domReader = new DOMReader();
+                Document document = domReader.read((org.w3c.dom.Document) node);
+                return document.getRootElement();
+            }
+        }
+        // we have no other option than to transform
+        DocumentResult dom4jResult = new DocumentResult();
+        transform(requestPayload, dom4jResult);
+        return dom4jResult.getDocument().getRootElement();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected boolean supportsResponsePayloadReturnType(MethodParameter returnType) {
+        return supports(returnType);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected Source createResponsePayload(MethodParameter returnType, Object returnValue) {
+        Element returnedNode = (Element) returnValue;
+        return new DocumentSource(returnedNode);
+    }
+
+    private boolean supports(MethodParameter parameter) {
+        return Element.class.equals(parameter.getParameterType());
+    }
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/server/endpoint/adapter/method/DomPayloadMethodProcessor.java b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/server/endpoint/adapter/method/DomPayloadMethodProcessor.java
index e35df050..d8069363 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/server/endpoint/adapter/method/DomPayloadMethodProcessor.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/server/endpoint/adapter/method/DomPayloadMethodProcessor.java
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ public class DomPayloadMethodProcessor extends AbstractPayloadMethodProcessor {
 
     @Override
     protected DOMSource createResponsePayload(MethodParameter returnType, Object returnValue) {
-        Node returnedNode = (Node) returnValue;
+        Element returnedNode = (Element) returnValue;
         return new DOMSource(returnedNode);
     }
 
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/springframework/ws/server/endpoint/adapter/method/Dom4jPayloadMethodArgumentResolverTest.java b/core/src/test/java/org/springframework/ws/server/endpoint/adapter/method/Dom4jPayloadMethodArgumentResolverTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..cc72a4bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/springframework/ws/server/endpoint/adapter/method/Dom4jPayloadMethodArgumentResolverTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2005-2010 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.springframework.ws.server.endpoint.adapter.method;
+
+import org.springframework.core.MethodParameter;
+import org.springframework.ws.server.endpoint.annotation.RequestPayload;
+import org.springframework.ws.server.endpoint.annotation.ResponsePayload;
+
+import org.dom4j.Document;
+import org.dom4j.DocumentHelper;
+import org.dom4j.Element;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+
+public class Dom4jPayloadMethodArgumentResolverTest extends AbstractPayloadMethodProcessorTest {
+
+   @Override
+    protected AbstractPayloadMethodProcessor createProcessor() {
+        return new Dom4jPayloadMethodProcessor();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected MethodParameter[] createSupportedParameters() throws NoSuchMethodException {
+        return new MethodParameter[]{
+                new MethodParameter(getClass().getMethod("element", Element.class), 0)};
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected MethodParameter[] createSupportedReturnTypes() throws NoSuchMethodException {
+        return new MethodParameter[]{new MethodParameter(getClass().getMethod("element", Element.class), -1)};
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected void testArgument(Object argument, MethodParameter parameter) {
+        assertTrue("argument not a node", argument instanceof Element);
+        Element element = (Element) argument;
+        assertEquals("Invalid namespace", NAMESPACE_URI, element.getNamespaceURI());
+        assertEquals("Invalid local name", LOCAL_NAME, element.getName());
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected Element getReturnValue(MethodParameter returnType) {
+        Document document = DocumentHelper.createDocument();
+        return document.addElement(LOCAL_NAME, NAMESPACE_URI);
+    }
+
+    @ResponsePayload
+    public Element element(@RequestPayload Element element) {
+        return element;
+    }
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file