spin_lock(&dlm->master_lock);
        ret = dlm_add_migration_mle(dlm, res, mle, &oldmle, name,
                                    namelen, target, dlm->node_num);
+       /* get an extra reference on the mle.
+        * otherwise the assert_master from the new
+        * master will destroy this.
+        */
+       dlm_get_mle_inuse(mle);
        spin_unlock(&dlm->master_lock);
        spin_unlock(&dlm->spinlock);
 
                if (mle_added) {
                        dlm_mle_detach_hb_events(dlm, mle);
                        dlm_put_mle(mle);
+                       dlm_put_mle_inuse(mle);
                } else if (mle) {
                        kmem_cache_free(dlm_mle_cache, mle);
                        mle = NULL;
         * ensure that all assert_master work is flushed. */
        flush_workqueue(dlm->dlm_worker);
 
-       /* get an extra reference on the mle.
-        * otherwise the assert_master from the new
-        * master will destroy this.
-        * also, make sure that all callers of dlm_get_mle
-        * take both dlm->spinlock and dlm->master_lock */
-       spin_lock(&dlm->spinlock);
-       spin_lock(&dlm->master_lock);
-       dlm_get_mle_inuse(mle);
-       spin_unlock(&dlm->master_lock);
-       spin_unlock(&dlm->spinlock);
-
        /* notify new node and send all lock state */
        /* call send_one_lockres with migration flag.
         * this serves as notice to the target node that a
                            mle->new_master != dead_node)
                                continue;
 
+                       if (mle->new_master == dead_node && mle->inuse) {
+                               mlog(ML_NOTICE, "%s: target %u died during "
+                                               "migration from %u, the MLE is "
+                                               "still keep used, ignore it!\n",
+                                               dlm->name, dead_node,
+                                               mle->master);
+                               continue;
+                       }
+
                        /* If we have reached this point, this mle needs to be
                         * removed from the list and freed. */
                        dlm_clean_migration_mle(dlm, mle);