diff --git a/ext/spl/spl_dllist.c b/ext/spl/spl_dllist.c
index 83610863e42a3..552e43d0546ec 100644
--- a/ext/spl/spl_dllist.c
+++ b/ext/spl/spl_dllist.c
@@ -1246,7 +1246,6 @@ SPL_METHOD(SplDoublyLinkedList, add)
 	if (zend_parse_parameters(ZEND_NUM_ARGS() TSRMLS_CC, "zz", &zindex, &value) == FAILURE) {
 		return;
 	}
-	SEPARATE_ARG_IF_REF(value);
 
 	intern = (spl_dllist_object*)zend_object_store_get_object(getThis() TSRMLS_CC);
 	index  = spl_offset_convert_to_long(zindex TSRMLS_CC);
@@ -1256,6 +1255,8 @@ SPL_METHOD(SplDoublyLinkedList, add)
 		return;
 	}
 
+	SEPARATE_ARG_IF_REF(value);
+
 	if (index == intern->llist->count) {
 		/* If index is the last entry+1 then we do a push because we're not inserting before any entry */
 		spl_ptr_llist_push(intern->llist, value TSRMLS_CC);