msn_slplink_remove_slpcall() shouldn't be responsible for setting slpcall->slplink to NULL. In fact, msn_slp_call_destroy() shouldn't even call msn_slplink_remove_slpcall() until it knows that it doesn't need the slplink anymore. So move the call to msn_slplink_remove_slpcall() further down in that function. Now we no longer need the return value from msn_switchboard_release(). That return value, by the way, was dumb. If you're no longer using the MsnSwitchBoard then you're not using it and you shouldn't care if it was destroyed or not.