diff --git a/uvloop/handles/handle.pxd b/uvloop/handles/handle.pxd
index e60c52c..39805fb 100644
--- a/uvloop/handles/handle.pxd
+++ b/uvloop/handles/handle.pxd
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ cdef class UVHandle:
     cdef _error(self, exc, throw)
     cdef _fatal_error(self, exc, throw, reason=?)
 
-    cdef _free(self)
+    cdef inline _free(self)
     cdef _close(self)
 
 
diff --git a/uvloop/handles/handle.pyx b/uvloop/handles/handle.pyx
index 71a3ea8..805f06e 100644
--- a/uvloop/handles/handle.pyx
+++ b/uvloop/handles/handle.pyx
@@ -70,8 +70,7 @@ cdef class UVHandle:
             self._closed = 1
             self._free()
 
-
-    cdef _free(self):
+    cdef inline _free(self):
         PyMem_Free(self._handle)
         self._handle = NULL
 
@@ -303,17 +302,17 @@ cdef void __uv_close_handle_cb(uv.uv_handle_t* handle) with gil:
         PyMem_Free(handle)
         return
 
-    if <object>handle.data is not __NOHANDLE__:
+    if <object>handle.data is __NOHANDLE__:
+        # The original UVHandle is long dead. Just free the mem of
+        # the uv_handle_t* handler.
+        PyMem_Free(handle)
+    else:
         h = <UVHandle>handle.data
-        h._handle = NULL
         IF DEBUG:
             h._loop._debug_handles_closed.update([
                 h.__class__.__name__])
         h._free()
         Py_DECREF(h) # Was INCREFed in UVHandle._close
-        return
-
-    PyMem_Free(handle)
 
 
 cdef void __close_all_handles(Loop loop):
diff --git a/uvloop/handles/process.pyx b/uvloop/handles/process.pyx
index d8c3107..6da0b1c 100644
--- a/uvloop/handles/process.pyx
+++ b/uvloop/handles/process.pyx
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ cdef class UVProcess(UVHandle):
                 'UVProcess._close_after_spawn called after uv_spawn')
         self._fds_to_close.add(fd)
 
-    cdef _free(self):
+    def __dealloc__(self):
         if self.uv_opt_env is not NULL:
             PyMem_Free(self.uv_opt_env)
             self.uv_opt_env = NULL
@@ -186,8 +186,6 @@ cdef class UVProcess(UVHandle):
             PyMem_Free(self.uv_opt_args)
             self.uv_opt_args = NULL
 
-        UVHandle._free(self)
-
     cdef char** __to_cstring_array(self, list arr):
         cdef:
             int i