diff --git a/src/broker/Manager.cc b/src/broker/Manager.cc
index 88e6413ffd..dee1c162cf 100644
--- a/src/broker/Manager.cc
+++ b/src/broker/Manager.cc
@@ -1900,6 +1900,9 @@ detail::StoreHandleVal* Manager::MakeClone(const string& name, double resync_int
     auto handle = new detail::StoreHandleVal{*result};
     Ref(handle);
 
+    if ( ! handle->proxy.valid() )
+        reporter->FatalError("Failed to create clone for data store %s", name.c_str());
+
     data_stores.emplace(name, handle);
     if ( ! iosource_mgr->RegisterFd(handle->proxy.mailbox().descriptor(), this) )
         reporter->FatalError("Failed to register broker clone mailbox descriptor with iosource_mgr");