diff --git a/include/wx/private/sckaddr.h b/include/wx/private/sckaddr.h
index 19f9e0f674..a4971fd4aa 100644
--- a/include/wx/private/sckaddr.h
+++ b/include/wx/private/sckaddr.h
@@ -166,6 +166,30 @@ public:
 #ifdef wxHAS_UNIX_DOMAIN_SOCKETS
     void CreateUnix();
 #endif // wxHAS_UNIX_DOMAIN_SOCKETS
+    void Create(Family family)
+    {
+        switch ( family )
+        {
+            case FAMILY_INET:
+                CreateINET();
+                break;
+
+#if wxUSE_IPV6
+            case FAMILY_INET6:
+                CreateINET6();
+                break;
+#endif
+
+#ifdef wxHAS_UNIX_DOMAIN_SOCKETS
+            case FAMILY_UNIX:
+#endif
+                CreateUnix();
+                break;
+
+            default:
+                wxFAIL_MSG( "unsupported socket address family" );
+        }
+    }
 
     // simple accessors
     Family GetFamily() const { return m_family; }
diff --git a/src/common/socket.cpp b/src/common/socket.cpp
index 3c4f417e75..c7af4a2600 100644
--- a/src/common/socket.cpp
+++ b/src/common/socket.cpp
@@ -364,6 +364,14 @@ void wxSocketImpl::PostCreation()
 
 wxSocketError wxSocketImpl::UpdateLocalAddress()
 {
+    if ( !m_local.IsOk() )
+    {
+        // ensure that we have a valid object using the correct family: correct
+        // being the same one as our peer uses as we have no other way to
+        // determine it
+        m_local.Create(m_peer.GetFamily());
+    }
+
     WX_SOCKLEN_T lenAddr = m_local.GetLen();
     if ( getsockname(m_fd, m_local.GetWritableAddr(), &lenAddr) != 0 )
     {