diff --git a/src/ArborX_DistributedSearchTree.hpp b/src/ArborX_DistributedSearchTree.hpp
index 436b70f5d6..e93516c0ec 100644
--- a/src/ArborX_DistributedSearchTree.hpp
+++ b/src/ArborX_DistributedSearchTree.hpp
@@ -101,6 +101,7 @@ class DistributedSearchTree
 private:
   template <typename DeviceType>
   friend struct Details::DistributedSearchTreeImpl;
+  MPI_Comm getComm() const { return *_comm_ptr; }
   std::shared_ptr<MPI_Comm> _comm_ptr;
   BVH<MemorySpace> _top_tree;    // replicated
   BVH<MemorySpace> _bottom_tree; // local
@@ -132,9 +133,9 @@ DistributedSearchTree<MemorySpace, Enable>::DistributedSearchTree(
       });
 
   int comm_rank;
-  MPI_Comm_rank(*_comm_ptr, &comm_rank);
+  MPI_Comm_rank(getComm(), &comm_rank);
   int comm_size;
-  MPI_Comm_size(*_comm_ptr, &comm_size);
+  MPI_Comm_size(getComm(), &comm_size);
 
   Kokkos::View<Box *, MemorySpace> boxes(
       Kokkos::ViewAllocateWithoutInitializing("rank_bounding_boxes"),
@@ -145,7 +146,7 @@ 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_ptr);
+                getComm());
   Kokkos::deep_copy(space, boxes, boxes_host);
 
   _top_tree = BVH<MemorySpace>{space, boxes};
@@ -157,7 +158,7 @@ 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_ptr);
+                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 8147c1d07b..13d5932ac3 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);