diff --git a/common/models/user.js b/common/models/user.js
index 324d2f93..5a246049 100644
--- a/common/models/user.js
+++ b/common/models/user.js
@@ -292,13 +292,23 @@ module.exports = function(User) {
 
   User.logout = function(tokenId, fn) {
     fn = fn || utils.createPromiseCallback();
-    this.relations.accessTokens.modelTo.findById(tokenId, function(err, accessToken) {
+
+    if (!tokenId) {
+      var err = new Error(g.f('{{accessToken}} is required to logout'));
+      err.status = 401;
+      process.nextTick(fn, err);
+      return fn.promise;
+    }
+
+    this.relations.accessTokens.modelTo.destroyById(tokenId, function(err, info) {
       if (err) {
         fn(err);
-      } else if (accessToken) {
-        accessToken.destroy(fn);
+      } else if ('count' in info && info.count === 0) {
+        var err = new Error(g.f('Could not find {{accessToken}}'));
+        err.status = 401;
+        fn(err);
       } else {
-        fn(new Error(g.f('could not find {{accessToken}}')));
+        fn();
       }
     });
     return fn.promise;
@@ -753,10 +763,10 @@ module.exports = function(User) {
       {
         description: 'Logout a user with access token.',
         accepts: [
-          {arg: 'access_token', type: 'string', required: true, http: function(ctx) {
+          {arg: 'access_token', type: 'string', http: function(ctx) {
             var req = ctx && ctx.req;
             var accessToken = req && req.accessToken;
-            var tokenID = accessToken && accessToken.id;
+            var tokenID = accessToken ? accessToken.id : undefined;
 
             return tokenID;
           }, description: 'Do not supply this argument, it is automatically extracted ' +
diff --git a/test/user.integration.js b/test/user.integration.js
index 3dfcaecc..56bd0b87 100644
--- a/test/user.integration.js
+++ b/test/user.integration.js
@@ -106,6 +106,17 @@ describe('users - integration', function() {
             .expect(200, done);
         });
     });
+
+    it('returns 401 on logout with no access token', function(done) {
+      this.post('/api/users/logout')
+        .expect(401, done);
+    });
+
+    it('returns 401 on logout with invalid access token', function(done) {
+      this.post('/api/users/logout')
+        .set('Authorization', 'unknown-token')
+        .expect(401, done);
+    });
   });
 
   describe('sub-user', function() {
diff --git a/test/user.test.js b/test/user.test.js
index 5329926d..5ba640ab 100644
--- a/test/user.test.js
+++ b/test/user.test.js
@@ -1193,6 +1193,22 @@ describe('User', function() {
       }
     });
 
+    it('fails when accessToken is not provided', function(done) {
+      User.logout(undefined, function(err) {
+        expect(err).to.have.property('message');
+        expect(err).to.have.property('status', 401);
+        done();
+      });
+    });
+
+    it('fails when accessToken is not found', function(done) {
+      User.logout('expired-access-token', function(err) {
+        expect(err).to.have.property('message');
+        expect(err).to.have.property('status', 401);
+        done();
+      });
+    });
+
     function verify(token, done) {
       assert(token);