diff --git a/test/dev.ts b/test/dev.ts
index 21432f3a51..583ab613a9 100644
--- a/test/dev.ts
+++ b/test/dev.ts
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import { loadEnv } from 'payload/node'
 
 import { getNextRootDir } from './helpers/getNextRootDir.js'
 import { runInit } from './runInit.js'
-import { safelyRunScriptFunction } from './safelyRunScript.js'
+import { child, safelyRunScriptFunction } from './safelyRunScript.js'
 import { createTestHooks } from './testHooks.js'
 
 const prod = process.argv.includes('--prod')
@@ -59,6 +59,15 @@ await nextDev({ port }, 'default', rootDir)
 void fetch(`http://localhost:${port}${adminRoute}`)
 
 // This ensures that the next-server process is killed when this process is killed and doesn't linger around.
-process.on('SIGINT', function () {
+process.on('SIGINT', () => {
+  if (child) {
+    child.kill('SIGINT')
+  }
   process.exit(0)
 })
+process.on('SIGTERM', () => {
+  if (child) {
+    child.kill('SIGINT')
+  }
+  process.exit(0) // Exit the parent process
+})
diff --git a/test/safelyRunScript.ts b/test/safelyRunScript.ts
index 94c579fabc..706bc0930c 100644
--- a/test/safelyRunScript.ts
+++ b/test/safelyRunScript.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 import { spawn } from 'child_process'
 import path from 'path'
 
+export let child
+
 /**
  * Sometimes, running certain functions in certain scripts from the command line will cause the script to be terminated
  * with a "Detected unsettled top-level await" error. This often happens if that function imports the payload config.
@@ -29,7 +31,7 @@ export async function safelyRunScriptFunction(
   })
 }
 
-function restartProcess(reason: string): never {
+function restartProcess(reason: string) {
   console.warn(`Restarting process: ${reason}`)
 
   // Get the path to the current script
@@ -37,14 +39,18 @@ function restartProcess(reason: string): never {
   const absoluteScriptPath = path.resolve(scriptPath)
 
   // Spawn a new process
-  const child = spawn('tsx', [absoluteScriptPath, ...process.argv.slice(2)], {
+  child = spawn('tsx', [absoluteScriptPath, ...process.argv.slice(2)], {
     stdio: 'inherit',
-    detached: true,
+    // detached: true,
   })
 
-  // Unref the child process so the parent can exit
-  child.unref()
-
-  // Exit the current process
-  process.exit(0)
+  // Setup signal handlers to ensure child process exits correctly
+  process.on('SIGINT', () => {
+    child.kill('SIGINT') // Forward SIGINT to child process
+    process.exit(0) // Exit the parent process
+  })
+  process.on('SIGTERM', () => {
+    child.kill('SIGTERM') // Forward SIGTERM to child process
+    process.exit(0) // Exit the parent process
+  })
 }