diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 38a929aed2e..bb7f8442607 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ Fixed Issues:
 * [#13419](http://dev.ckeditor.com/ticket/13419): Fixed: [Auto Link](http://ckeditor.com/addon/autolink) plugin does not encode double quotes in URLs.
 * [#13460](http://dev.ckeditor.com/ticket/13460): [IE8] Fixed: Copying inline widgets is broken when the Advanced Content Filter is disabled.
 * [#13495](http://dev.ckeditor.com/ticket/13495): [Firefox,IE] Fixed: Text is not word-wrapped in the Paste dialog.
+* [#13385](http://dev.ckeditor.com/ticket/13385): Fixed: [`editor.getSnapshot()`](http://docs.ckeditor.com/#!/api/CKEDITOR.editor-method-getSnapshot) may return a non-string value.
 
 ## CKEditor 4.5.1
 
diff --git a/core/editor.js b/core/editor.js
index 99770b4a5a8..3b2f1fa3dfe 100644
--- a/core/editor.js
+++ b/core/editor.js
@@ -904,15 +904,26 @@
 		 *
 		 *		alert( editor.getSnapshot() );
 		 *
-		 * @see CKEDITOR.editor#getData
+		 * See also:
+		 *
+		 * * {@link CKEDITOR.editor#getData}.
+		 *
+		 * @returns {String} Editor "raw data".
 		 */
 		getSnapshot: function() {
 			var data = this.fire( 'getSnapshot' );
 
 			if ( typeof data != 'string' ) {
 				var element = this.element;
-				if ( element && this.elementMode == CKEDITOR.ELEMENT_MODE_REPLACE )
+
+				if ( element && this.elementMode == CKEDITOR.ELEMENT_MODE_REPLACE ) {
 					data = element.is( 'textarea' ) ? element.getValue() : element.getHtml();
+				}
+				else {
+					// If we don't have a proper element, set data to an empty string,
+					// as this method is expected to return a string. (#13385)
+					data = '';
+				}
 			}
 
 			return data;
diff --git a/tests/core/editor/destroy.js b/tests/core/editor/destroy.js
index 1444502c556..abb77e26f03 100644
--- a/tests/core/editor/destroy.js
+++ b/tests/core/editor/destroy.js
@@ -25,5 +25,16 @@ bender.test(
 			} );
 
 		} );
+	},
+
+	// #13385.
+	'test getSnapshot returns empty string after editor destroyed': function() {
+		bender.editorBot.create( {}, function( bot ) {
+			this.wait( function() {
+				var editor = bot.editor;
+				editor.destroy();
+				assert.areSame( '', editor.getSnapshot() );
+			}, 0 );
+		} );
 	}
-} );
\ No newline at end of file
+} );