diff --git a/python/pyarrow/src/arrow/python/extension_type.cc b/python/pyarrow/src/arrow/python/extension_type.cc
index 8439ecf8583..8c3f3f1d8d0 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/src/arrow/python/extension_type.cc
+++ b/python/pyarrow/src/arrow/python/extension_type.cc
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 #include "arrow/python/extension_type.h"
 #include "arrow/python/helpers.h"
 #include "arrow/python/pyarrow.h"
+#include "arrow/python/vendored/pythoncapi_compat.h"
 #include "arrow/util/checked_cast.h"
 #include "arrow/util/logging.h"
 
@@ -164,15 +165,18 @@ PyObject* PyExtensionType::GetInstance() const {
     return nullptr;
   }
   ARROW_DCHECK(PyWeakref_CheckRef(type_instance_.obj()));
-  PyObject* inst = PyWeakref_GET_OBJECT(type_instance_.obj());
-  if (inst != Py_None) {
-    // Cached instance still alive
-    Py_INCREF(inst);
+  PyObject* inst = NULL;
+  int result = PyWeakref_GetRef(type_instance_.obj(), &inst);
+  if (result == 1) {
+    // Alive: inst is a new strong reference
     return inst;
-  } else {
-    // Must reconstruct from serialized form
+  } else if (result == 0) {
+    // Weakref is dead, must reconstruct from serialized form
     // XXX cache again?
     return DeserializeExtInstance(type_class_.obj(), storage_type_, serialized_);
+  } else {
+    // -1 = exception
+    return nullptr;
   }
 }