diff --git a/src/core/Akka.Remote/Endpoint.cs b/src/core/Akka.Remote/Endpoint.cs
index 686ff486319..77ee4275174 100644
--- a/src/core/Akka.Remote/Endpoint.cs
+++ b/src/core/Akka.Remote/Endpoint.cs
@@ -1139,7 +1139,7 @@ protected override void PostStop()
             }
             _buffer.Clear();
 
-            if (_handle != null) _handle.Disassociate(_stopReason);
+            _handle?.Disassociate(_stopReason);
             EventPublisher.NotifyListeners(new DisassociatedEvent(LocalAddress, RemoteAddress, Inbound));
         }
 
@@ -1219,6 +1219,12 @@ private void Handoff()
                 BecomeWritingOrSendBufferedMessages();
             });
             Receive<EndpointManager.Send>(send => EnqueueInBuffer(send));
+
+            // Ignore outgoing acks during take over, since we might have
+            // replaced the handle with a connection to a new, restarted, system
+            // and the ack might be targeted to the old incarnation.
+            // Relates to https://github.com/akka/akka/pull/20093
+            Receive<OutboundAck>(_ => { });
         }
 
         /// <summary>
@@ -1227,56 +1233,50 @@ private void Handoff()
         /// <param name="message">TBD</param>
         protected override void Unhandled(object message)
         {
-            if (message is Terminated)
+            switch (message)
             {
-                var t = message as Terminated;
-                if (_reader == null || t.ActorRef.Equals(_reader))
+                case Terminated t:
                 {
-                    PublishAndThrow(new EndpointDisassociatedException("Disassociated"), LogLevel.DebugLevel);
+                    if (_reader == null || t.ActorRef.Equals(_reader))
+                    {
+                        PublishAndThrow(new EndpointDisassociatedException("Disassociated"), LogLevel.DebugLevel);
+                    }
+
+                    break;
                 }
-            }
-            else if (message is StopReading)
-            {
-                var stop = message as StopReading;
-                if (_reader != null)
-                {
+                case StopReading stop when _reader != null:
                     _reader.Tell(stop, stop.ReplyTo);
-                }
-                else
-                {
+                    break;
+                case StopReading stop:
                     // initializing, buffer and take care of it later when buffer is sent
-                    EnqueueInBuffer(message);
+                    EnqueueInBuffer(stop);
+                    break;
+                case TakeOver takeover:
+                    // Shutdown old reader
+                    _handle.Disassociate("the association was replaced by a new one", _log);
+                    _handle = takeover.ProtocolHandle;
+                    takeover.ReplyTo.Tell(new TookOver(Self, _handle));
+                    Become(Handoff);
+                    break;
+                case FlushAndStop _:
+                    _stopReason = DisassociateInfo.Shutdown;
+                    Context.Stop(Self);
+                    break;
+                case OutboundAck ack:
+                {
+                    _lastAck = ack.Ack;
+                    if (_ackDeadline.IsOverdue)
+                        TrySendPureAck();
+                    break;
                 }
-            }
-            else if (message is TakeOver)
-            {
-                var takeover = message as TakeOver;
-
-                // Shutdown old reader
-                _handle.Disassociate();
-                _handle = takeover.ProtocolHandle;
-                takeover.ReplyTo.Tell(new TookOver(Self, _handle));
-                Become(Handoff);
-            }
-            else if (message is FlushAndStop)
-            {
-                _stopReason = DisassociateInfo.Shutdown;
-                Context.Stop(Self);
-            }
-            else if (message is OutboundAck)
-            {
-                var ack = message as OutboundAck;
-                _lastAck = ack.Ack;
-                if (_ackDeadline.IsOverdue)
-                    TrySendPureAck();
-            }
-            else if (message is AckIdleCheckTimer || message is FlushAndStopTimeout || message is BackoffTimer)
-            {
-                //ignore
-            }
-            else
-            {
-                base.Unhandled(message);
+                case AckIdleCheckTimer _:
+                case FlushAndStopTimeout _:
+                case BackoffTimer _:
+                    //ignore
+                    break;
+                default:
+                    base.Unhandled(message);
+                    break;
             }
         }