diff --git a/fs/mqueue/mq_unlink.c b/fs/mqueue/mq_unlink.c
index 271fb213c9b4f..2148b4895f235 100644
--- a/fs/mqueue/mq_unlink.c
+++ b/fs/mqueue/mq_unlink.c
@@ -65,9 +65,9 @@ static void mq_inode_release(FAR struct inode *inode)
           nxmq_free_msgq(msgq);
           inode->i_private = NULL;
         }
-
-      inode_release(inode);
     }
+
+  inode_release(inode);
 }
 
 /****************************************************************************