diff --git a/gtsam/hybrid/HybridGaussianConditional.cpp b/gtsam/hybrid/HybridGaussianConditional.cpp
index 1712e06a9..fb89f72fc 100644
--- a/gtsam/hybrid/HybridGaussianConditional.cpp
+++ b/gtsam/hybrid/HybridGaussianConditional.cpp
@@ -192,11 +192,10 @@ bool HybridGaussianConditional::equals(const HybridFactor &lf,
 
   // Check the base and the factors:
   return BaseFactor::equals(*e, tol) &&
-         conditionals_.equals(e->conditionals_,
-                              [tol](const GaussianConditional::shared_ptr &f1,
-                                    const GaussianConditional::shared_ptr &f2) {
-                                return f1->equals(*(f2), tol);
-                              });
+         conditionals_.equals(
+             e->conditionals_, [tol](const auto &f1, const auto &f2) {
+               return (!f1 && !f2) || (f1 && f2 && f1->equals(*f2, tol));
+             });
 }
 
 /* *******************************************************************************/
diff --git a/gtsam/hybrid/HybridGaussianFactor.cpp b/gtsam/hybrid/HybridGaussianFactor.cpp
index 7f8e808bf..6a9fc5c35 100644
--- a/gtsam/hybrid/HybridGaussianFactor.cpp
+++ b/gtsam/hybrid/HybridGaussianFactor.cpp
@@ -154,10 +154,9 @@ bool HybridGaussianFactor::equals(const HybridFactor &lf, double tol) const {
 
   // Check the base and the factors:
   return Base::equals(*e, tol) &&
-         factors_.equals(e->factors_,
-                         [tol](const sharedFactor &f1, const sharedFactor &f2) {
-                           return f1->equals(*f2, tol);
-                         });
+         factors_.equals(e->factors_, [tol](const auto &f1, const auto &f2) {
+           return (!f1 && !f2) || (f1 && f2 && f1->equals(*f2, tol));
+         });
 }
 
 /* *******************************************************************************/