diff --git a/lib/sessionmanager.js b/lib/sessionmanager.js
index c39bc6e5..0c43e5b3 100644
--- a/lib/sessionmanager.js
+++ b/lib/sessionmanager.js
@@ -47,12 +47,14 @@ SessionManager.prototype.logIn = function(req, user, cb) {
 SessionManager.prototype.logOut = function(req, cb) {
   console.log('SM: logOut');
   
+  if (!req.session) { return cb(new Error('Login sessions require session support. Did you forget to use `express-session` middleware?')); }
+  
   var self = this;
   
   // clear the user from the session object and save.
   // this will ensure that re-using the old session id
   // does not have a logged in user
-  if (req.session && req.session[this._key]) {
+  if (req.session[this._key]) {
     delete req.session[this._key].user;
   }