diff --git a/src/widgets/widgets/qmainwindow.cpp b/src/widgets/widgets/qmainwindow.cpp
index 7cffd90aba..5aeea88e4e 100644
--- a/src/widgets/widgets/qmainwindow.cpp
+++ b/src/widgets/widgets/qmainwindow.cpp
@@ -522,10 +522,10 @@ void QMainWindow::setMenuBar(QMenuBar *menuBar)
 {
     QLayout *topLayout = layout();
 
-    if (topLayout->menuBar() && topLayout->menuBar() != menuBar) {
+    if (QWidget *existingMenuBar = topLayout->menuBar(); existingMenuBar && existingMenuBar != menuBar) {
         // Reparent corner widgets before we delete the old menu bar.
-        QMenuBar *oldMenuBar = qobject_cast<QMenuBar *>(topLayout->menuBar());
-        if (menuBar) {
+        QMenuBar *oldMenuBar = qobject_cast<QMenuBar *>(existingMenuBar);
+        if (oldMenuBar && menuBar) {
             // TopLeftCorner widget.
             QWidget *cornerWidget = oldMenuBar->cornerWidget(Qt::TopLeftCorner);
             if (cornerWidget)
@@ -535,9 +535,10 @@ void QMainWindow::setMenuBar(QMenuBar *menuBar)
             if (cornerWidget)
                 menuBar->setCornerWidget(cornerWidget, Qt::TopRightCorner);
         }
-        oldMenuBar->hide();
-        oldMenuBar->setParent(nullptr);
-        oldMenuBar->deleteLater();
+
+        existingMenuBar->hide();
+        existingMenuBar->setParent(nullptr);
+        existingMenuBar->deleteLater();
     }
     topLayout->setMenuBar(menuBar);
 }
diff --git a/tests/auto/widgets/widgets/qmainwindow/tst_qmainwindow.cpp b/tests/auto/widgets/widgets/qmainwindow/tst_qmainwindow.cpp
index 0eb59fbce6..f2a7981b4c 100644
--- a/tests/auto/widgets/widgets/qmainwindow/tst_qmainwindow.cpp
+++ b/tests/auto/widgets/widgets/qmainwindow/tst_qmainwindow.cpp
@@ -111,6 +111,7 @@ private slots:
     void iconSize();
     void toolButtonStyle();
     void menuBar();
+    void customMenuBar();
     void centralWidget();
     void takeCentralWidget();
     void corner();
@@ -674,6 +675,18 @@ void tst_QMainWindow::menuBar()
     }
 }
 
+// QTBUG-98247
+void tst_QMainWindow::customMenuBar()
+{
+    QMainWindow w;
+    std::unique_ptr<QWidget> menuWidget(new QWidget);
+    w.setMenuWidget(menuWidget.get());
+    QVERIFY(menuWidget->parentWidget());
+    QVERIFY(w.menuBar()); // implicitly calls setMenuBar
+    QVERIFY(!menuWidget->parentWidget());
+    menuWidget.reset();
+}
+
 #ifdef QT_BUILD_INTERNAL
 void tst_QMainWindow::statusBar()
 {