diff --git a/Paperless.TestSupport/ContainerFixtureBase.cs b/Paperless.TestSupport/ContainerFixtureBase.cs
index fb493ba..12e8ce9 100644
--- a/Paperless.TestSupport/ContainerFixtureBase.cs
+++ b/Paperless.TestSupport/ContainerFixtureBase.cs
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ namespace Paperless.TestSupport;
 ///     Template-method base for the integration-test container fixtures. Owns the
 ///     shared container lifecycle (RabbitMQ + MinIO + Elasticsearch, plus an optional
 ///     Postgres), MinIO bucket creation, Elasticsearch readiness polling, the
-///     Elasticsearch document/search polling helpers, and guarded teardown.
+///     Elasticsearch document/search polling helpers, and ordered teardown.
 ///     <para>
 ///         Derived fixtures supply the system-under-test by overriding
 ///         <see cref="ConfigureSutAsync" /> (which must assign <see cref="Services" />)
@@ -73,17 +73,18 @@ public async ValueTask InitializeAsync()
 
 	public async ValueTask DisposeAsync()
 	{
-		// Guard SUT teardown and swallow per-container Dispose failures so that an
-		// exception thrown during InitializeAsync (e.g. a wait-strategy timeout) is
-		// not masked by a secondary NRE/dispose error during xUnit fixture cleanup.
-		try { await DisposeSutAsync(); } catch { /* best-effort */ }
-
-		try { await _rabbit.DisposeAsync(); } catch { /* best-effort */ }
-		try { await _minio.DisposeAsync(); } catch { /* best-effort */ }
-		try { await _elastic.DisposeAsync(); } catch { /* best-effort */ }
+		// SUT first (it consumes the containers), then the infra. Plain awaits, no
+		// best-effort catch: a teardown failure is a real fault that must surface.
+		// DisposeSutAsync overrides null-guard their own SUT, so a failed
+		// InitializeAsync cannot NRE here, and Testcontainers' Ryuk reaper cleans up
+		// any container a mid-teardown throw leaves running.
+		await DisposeSutAsync();
+		await _rabbit.DisposeAsync();
+		await _minio.DisposeAsync();
+		await _elastic.DisposeAsync();
 		if (_postgres is not null)
 		{
-			try { await _postgres.DisposeAsync(); } catch { /* best-effort */ }
+			await _postgres.DisposeAsync();
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/PaperlessServices.Tests/Integration/WorkerTestBase.cs b/PaperlessServices.Tests/Integration/WorkerTestBase.cs
index cc2ffe2..fc43fc1 100644
--- a/PaperlessServices.Tests/Integration/WorkerTestBase.cs
+++ b/PaperlessServices.Tests/Integration/WorkerTestBase.cs
@@ -61,14 +61,13 @@ protected override async ValueTask ConfigureSutAsync()
 
 	protected override async ValueTask DisposeSutAsync()
 	{
-		// _host is assigned in ConfigureSutAsync. If init throws before that line
-		// (e.g. a container wait-strategy times out), _host is still null; the base
-		// guards this call so a naive _host.StopAsync() NRE cannot mask the real
-		// InitializeAsync exception in xUnit's collection-fixture cleanup report.
+		// Null-guarded because a failed InitializeAsync (e.g. a container wait-strategy
+		// timeout) returns before _host is assigned. When the host exists, stop it
+		// gracefully then dispose it — no best-effort catch: a shutdown fault is real
+		// and must surface, not hide behind the init exception.
 		if (_host is not null)
 		{
-			try { await _host.StopAsync(); }
-			catch { /* best-effort: don't mask the InitializeAsync exception */ }
+			await _host.StopAsync();
 			_host.Dispose();
 		}
 	}