diff --git a/src/slurmctld/licenses.c b/src/slurmctld/licenses.c
index 4b7be506a048da404f47f464390f985568b8a372..8a063ea3cb484cbdbfc19e9fb761cbc5af78c524 100644
--- a/src/slurmctld/licenses.c
+++ b/src/slurmctld/licenses.c
@@ -279,10 +279,7 @@ extern int license_update(char *licenses)
 extern void license_free(void)
 {
 	slurm_mutex_lock(&license_mutex);
-	if (license_list) {
-		list_destroy(license_list);
-		license_list = (List) NULL;
-	}
+	FREE_NULL_LIST(license_list);
 	slurm_mutex_unlock(&license_mutex);
 }