diff --git a/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/__init__.py b/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/__init__.py
index 1a1efa96bf7..fdb2816b3a1 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/__init__.py
+++ b/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/__init__.py
@@ -788,6 +788,8 @@ def start_span(  # pylint: disable=too-many-locals
             )
             span.start(start_time=start_time)
         else:
+            options = context.trace_flags & ~trace_api.TraceFlags.SAMPLED
+            context.trace_flags = trace_api.TraceFlags(options)
             span = trace_api.DefaultSpan(context=context)
         return span
 
diff --git a/opentelemetry-sdk/tests/trace/test_trace.py b/opentelemetry-sdk/tests/trace/test_trace.py
index acc2005826e..0d63ab541e2 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-sdk/tests/trace/test_trace.py
+++ b/opentelemetry-sdk/tests/trace/test_trace.py
@@ -139,18 +139,20 @@ def test_default_sampler(self):
         self.assertIsInstance(root_span, trace.Span)
         child_span = tracer.start_span(name="child span", parent=root_span)
         self.assertIsInstance(child_span, trace.Span)
-        self.assertTrue(root_span.context.trace_flags.sampled)
+        self.assertTrue(root_span.get_context().trace_flags.sampled)
 
     def test_sampler_no_sampling(self):
         tracer_provider = trace.TracerProvider(sampling.ALWAYS_OFF)
         tracer = tracer_provider.get_tracer(__name__)
 
         # Check that the default tracer creates no-op spans if the sampler
-        # decides not to sampler
+        # decides not to sample
         root_span = tracer.start_span(name="root span", parent=None)
         self.assertIsInstance(root_span, trace_api.DefaultSpan)
+        self.assertFalse(root_span.get_context().trace_flags.sampled)
         child_span = tracer.start_span(name="child span", parent=root_span)
         self.assertIsInstance(child_span, trace_api.DefaultSpan)
+        self.assertFalse(child_span.get_context().trace_flags.sampled)
 
 
 class TestSpanCreation(unittest.TestCase):