diff --git a/java/src/main/java/ai/rapids/cudf/MemoryBuffer.java b/java/src/main/java/ai/rapids/cudf/MemoryBuffer.java
index 75c7a2dc22c..e6b3994235d 100644
--- a/java/src/main/java/ai/rapids/cudf/MemoryBuffer.java
+++ b/java/src/main/java/ai/rapids/cudf/MemoryBuffer.java
@@ -36,6 +36,9 @@ public interface EventHandler {
     /**
      * `onClosed` is invoked with the updated `refCount` during `close`.
      * The last invocation of `onClosed` will be with `refCount=0`.
+     *
+     * @note the callback is invoked with this `MemoryBuffer`'s lock held.
+     *
      * @param refCount - the updated ref count for this MemoryBuffer at the time
      *                 of invocation
      */
@@ -212,12 +215,14 @@ public final void copyFromMemoryBufferAsync(
   /**
    * Set an event handler for this buffer. This method can be invoked with null
    * to unset the handler.
+   *
+   * @param newHandler - the EventHandler to use from this point forward
+   * @return the prior event handler, or null if not set.
    */
-  public synchronized void setEventHandler(EventHandler handler) {
-    if (this.eventHandler != null && handler != null) {
-      throw new IllegalStateException("EventHandler is already set for this buffer");
-    }
-    this.eventHandler = handler;
+  public synchronized EventHandler setEventHandler(EventHandler newHandler) {
+    EventHandler prev = this.eventHandler;
+    this.eventHandler = newHandler;
+    return prev;
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/java/src/test/java/ai/rapids/cudf/MemoryBufferTest.java b/java/src/test/java/ai/rapids/cudf/MemoryBufferTest.java
index f7bd70a0c8f..c332ce660d1 100644
--- a/java/src/test/java/ai/rapids/cudf/MemoryBufferTest.java
+++ b/java/src/test/java/ai/rapids/cudf/MemoryBufferTest.java
@@ -203,14 +203,16 @@ public void testEventHandlerIsNotCalledIfNotSet() {
   }
 
   @Test
-  public void testEventHandlerDisallowsResetting() {
+  public void testEventHandlerReturnsPreviousHandlerOnReset() {
     try (DeviceMemoryBuffer b = DeviceMemoryBuffer.allocate(256)) {
-      b.setEventHandler(refCount -> {});
-      b.setEventHandler(null); // ok - unsets it
+      MemoryBuffer.EventHandler handler = refCount -> {};
+      MemoryBuffer.EventHandler handler2 = refCount -> {};
 
-      b.setEventHandler(refCount -> {}); // ok - resets it because it was null before
-      // we cannot reset the handler without having set it to null first
-      assertThrows(IllegalStateException.class, () -> b.setEventHandler(refCount -> {}));
+      assertNull(b.setEventHandler(handler));
+      assertEquals(handler, b.setEventHandler(null));
+
+      assertNull(b.setEventHandler(handler2));
+      assertEquals(handler2, b.setEventHandler(handler));
     }
   }
 }