diff --git a/src/ArborX_DistributedSearchTree.hpp b/src/ArborX_DistributedSearchTree.hpp
index de2744be6..130ee6d73 100644
--- a/src/ArborX_DistributedSearchTree.hpp
+++ b/src/ArborX_DistributedSearchTree.hpp
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@
 
 #include <Kokkos_Core.hpp>
 
+#include <memory>
+
 #include <mpi.h>
 
 namespace ArborX
@@ -42,8 +44,6 @@ class DistributedSearchTree
   DistributedSearchTree(MPI_Comm comm, ExecutionSpace const &space,
                         Primitives const &primitives);
 
-  ~DistributedSearchTree() { MPI_Comm_free(&_comm); }
-
   /** Returns the smallest axis-aligned box able to contain all the objects
    *  stored in the tree or an invalid box if the tree is empty.
    */
@@ -101,7 +101,8 @@ class DistributedSearchTree
 private:
   template <typename DeviceType>
   friend struct Details::DistributedSearchTreeImpl;
-  MPI_Comm _comm;
+  MPI_Comm getComm() const { return *_comm_ptr; }
+  std::shared_ptr<MPI_Comm> _comm_ptr;
   BVH<MemorySpace> _top_tree;    // replicated
   BVH<MemorySpace> _bottom_tree; // local
   size_type _top_tree_size;
@@ -118,12 +119,24 @@ DistributedSearchTree<MemorySpace, Enable>::DistributedSearchTree(
 
   // Create new context for the library to isolate library's communication from
   // user's
-  MPI_Comm_dup(comm, &_comm);
+  _comm_ptr.reset(
+      // duplicate the communicator and store it in a std::shared_ptr so that
+      // all copies of the distributed tree point to the same object
+      [comm]() {
+        auto p = std::make_unique<MPI_Comm>();
+        MPI_Comm_dup(comm, p.get());
+        return p.release();
+      }(),
+      // custom deleter to mark the communicator object for deallocation
+      [](MPI_Comm *p) {
+        MPI_Comm_free(p);
+        delete p;
+      });
 
   int comm_rank;
-  MPI_Comm_rank(_comm, &comm_rank);
+  MPI_Comm_rank(getComm(), &comm_rank);
   int comm_size;
-  MPI_Comm_size(_comm, &comm_size);
+  MPI_Comm_size(getComm(), &comm_size);
 
   Kokkos::View<Box *, MemorySpace> boxes(
       Kokkos::ViewAllocateWithoutInitializing("rank_bounding_boxes"),
@@ -134,7 +147,7 @@ DistributedSearchTree<MemorySpace, Enable>::DistributedSearchTree(
   boxes_host(comm_rank) = _bottom_tree.bounds();
   MPI_Allgather(MPI_IN_PLACE, 0, MPI_DATATYPE_NULL,
                 static_cast<void *>(boxes_host.data()), sizeof(Box), MPI_BYTE,
-                _comm);
+                getComm());
   Kokkos::deep_copy(space, boxes, boxes_host);
 
   _top_tree = BVH<MemorySpace>{space, boxes};
@@ -146,7 +159,7 @@ DistributedSearchTree<MemorySpace, Enable>::DistributedSearchTree(
   bottom_tree_sizes_host(comm_rank) = _bottom_tree.size();
   MPI_Allgather(MPI_IN_PLACE, 0, MPI_DATATYPE_NULL,
                 static_cast<void *>(bottom_tree_sizes_host.data()),
-                sizeof(size_type), MPI_BYTE, _comm);
+                sizeof(size_type), MPI_BYTE, getComm());
   Kokkos::deep_copy(space, _bottom_tree_sizes, bottom_tree_sizes_host);
 
   _top_tree_size = accumulate(space, _bottom_tree_sizes, 0);
diff --git a/src/details/ArborX_DetailsDistributedSearchTreeImpl.hpp b/src/details/ArborX_DetailsDistributedSearchTreeImpl.hpp
index 8147c1d07..13d5932ac 100644
--- a/src/details/ArborX_DetailsDistributedSearchTreeImpl.hpp
+++ b/src/details/ArborX_DetailsDistributedSearchTreeImpl.hpp
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ struct DistributedSearchTreeImpl
                 IndicesAndRanks &values, Offset &offset)
   {
     int comm_rank;
-    MPI_Comm_rank(tree._comm, &comm_rank);
+    MPI_Comm_rank(tree.getComm(), &comm_rank);
     queryDispatch(SpatialPredicateTag{}, tree, space, queries,
                   CallbackDefaultSpatialPredicateWithRank{comm_rank}, values,
                   offset);
@@ -379,7 +379,7 @@ DistributedSearchTreeImpl<DeviceType>::queryDispatchImpl(
     Offset &offset, Ranks &ranks, Distances *distances_ptr)
 {
   auto const &bottom_tree = tree._bottom_tree;
-  auto comm = tree._comm;
+  auto comm = tree.getComm();
 
   Distances distances("distances", 0);
   if (distances_ptr)
@@ -452,7 +452,7 @@ DistributedSearchTreeImpl<DeviceType>::queryDispatch(
 {
   auto const &top_tree = tree._top_tree;
   auto const &bottom_tree = tree._bottom_tree;
-  auto comm = tree._comm;
+  auto comm = tree.getComm();
 
   Kokkos::View<int *, DeviceType> indices("indices", 0);
   Kokkos::View<int *, DeviceType> ranks("ranks", 0);