diff --git a/src/wallet/rpcwallet.cpp b/src/wallet/rpcwallet.cpp
index 40ede2a706..79343ff868 100644
--- a/src/wallet/rpcwallet.cpp
+++ b/src/wallet/rpcwallet.cpp
@@ -382,6 +382,12 @@ UniValue SendMoney(CWallet& wallet, const CCoinControl &coin_control, std::vecto
 {
     EnsureWalletIsUnlocked(wallet);
 
+    // This function is only used by sendtoaddress and sendmany.
+    // This should always try to sign, if we don't have private keys, don't try to do anything here.
+    if (wallet.IsWalletFlagSet(WALLET_FLAG_DISABLE_PRIVATE_KEYS)) {
+        throw JSONRPCError(RPC_WALLET_ERROR, "Error: Private keys are disabled for this wallet");
+    }
+
     if (coin_control.IsUsingCoinJoin()) {
         map_value["DS"] = "1";
     }
@@ -392,7 +398,7 @@ UniValue SendMoney(CWallet& wallet, const CCoinControl &coin_control, std::vecto
     bilingual_str error;
     CTransactionRef tx;
     FeeCalculation fee_calc_out;
-    bool fCreated = wallet.CreateTransaction(recipients, tx, nFeeRequired, nChangePosRet, error, coin_control, fee_calc_out, !wallet.IsWalletFlagSet(WALLET_FLAG_DISABLE_PRIVATE_KEYS));
+    const bool fCreated = wallet.CreateTransaction(recipients, tx, nFeeRequired, nChangePosRet, error, coin_control, fee_calc_out, true);
     if (!fCreated) {
         throw JSONRPCError(RPC_WALLET_INSUFFICIENT_FUNDS, error.original);
     }
diff --git a/test/functional/wallet_watchonly.py b/test/functional/wallet_watchonly.py
index 2b91edf22f..c3ac93229f 100755
--- a/test/functional/wallet_watchonly.py
+++ b/test/functional/wallet_watchonly.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 # Copyright (c) 2018-2019 The Bitcoin Core developers
 # Distributed under the MIT software license, see the accompanying
 # file COPYING or http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php.
-"""Test createwallet arguments.
+"""Test createwallet watchonly arguments.
 """
 
 from test_framework.blocktools import COINBASE_MATURITY
@@ -51,6 +51,11 @@ class CreateWalletWatchonlyTest(BitcoinTestFramework):
         assert_equal(len(wo_wallet.listtransactions()), 1)
         assert_equal(wo_wallet.getbalance(include_watchonly=False), 0)
 
+        self.log.info('Test sending from a watch-only wallet raises RPC error')
+        msg = "Error: Private keys are disabled for this wallet"
+        assert_raises_rpc_error(-4, msg, wo_wallet.sendtoaddress, a1, 0.1)
+        assert_raises_rpc_error(-4, msg, wo_wallet.sendmany, amounts={a1: 0.1})
+
         self.log.info('Testing listreceivedbyaddress watch-only defaults')
         result = wo_wallet.listreceivedbyaddress()
         assert_equal(len(result), 1)