diff --git a/doc/changelog.md b/doc/changelog.md
index ac09ecf604..4ce6cf586c 100644
--- a/doc/changelog.md
+++ b/doc/changelog.md
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ Jump to:
 
 Description
 
+- Refactor `exception_handler`
 - Add RequestDispatcher and the possibility of batching inference requests
 - Enable hostname selection for dragon tasks
 - Remove pydantic dependency from MLI code
diff --git a/smartsim/_core/mli/infrastructure/control/error_handling.py b/smartsim/_core/mli/infrastructure/control/error_handling.py
index e2c5bcd9e1..5a42a8bfa8 100644
--- a/smartsim/_core/mli/infrastructure/control/error_handling.py
+++ b/smartsim/_core/mli/infrastructure/control/error_handling.py
@@ -61,10 +61,10 @@ def exception_handler(
         f"Exception type: {type(exc).__name__}\n"
         f"Exception message: {str(exc)}"
     )
-    serialized_resp = MessageHandler.serialize_response(
-        build_failure_reply("fail", failure_message)
-    )
     if reply_channel:
+        serialized_resp = MessageHandler.serialize_response(
+            build_failure_reply("fail", failure_message)
+        )
         reply_channel.send(serialized_resp)
     else:
-        logger.warning("Unable to notify client of error without reply_channel")
+        logger.warning("Unable to notify client of error without a reply channel")
diff --git a/tests/dragon/test_error_handling.py b/tests/dragon/test_error_handling.py
index b20424866a..0e737101fa 100644
--- a/tests/dragon/test_error_handling.py
+++ b/tests/dragon/test_error_handling.py
@@ -307,14 +307,22 @@ def mock_stage(*args, **kwargs):
         mock_reply_fn,
     )
 
+    mock_reply_channel = MagicMock()
+    mock_reply_channel.send = MagicMock()
+
     def mock_exception_handler(exc, reply_channel, failure_message):
-        return exception_handler(exc, None, failure_message)
+        return exception_handler(exc, mock_reply_channel, failure_message)
 
     monkeypatch.setattr(
         "smartsim._core.mli.infrastructure.control.workermanager.exception_handler",
         mock_exception_handler,
     )
 
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        "smartsim._core.mli.infrastructure.control.requestdispatcher.exception_handler",
+        mock_exception_handler,
+    )
+
     return mock_reply_fn
 
 
@@ -464,7 +472,9 @@ def test_dispatcher_pipeline_stage_errors_handled(
 def test_exception_handling_helper(monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch):
     """Ensures that the worker manager does not crash after a failure in the
     execute pipeline stage"""
-    reply = InferenceReply()
+
+    mock_reply_channel = MagicMock()
+    mock_reply_channel.send = MagicMock()
 
     mock_reply_fn = MagicMock()
     monkeypatch.setattr(
@@ -473,7 +483,9 @@ def test_exception_handling_helper(monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch):
     )
 
     test_exception = ValueError("Test ValueError")
-    exception_handler(test_exception, None, "Failure while fetching the model.")
+    exception_handler(
+        test_exception, mock_reply_channel, "Failure while fetching the model."
+    )
 
     mock_reply_fn.assert_called_once()
     mock_reply_fn.assert_called_with("fail", "Failure while fetching the model.")