diff --git a/lib/net/smtp.rb b/lib/net/smtp.rb
index 8c16d05..46f2314 100644
--- a/lib/net/smtp.rb
+++ b/lib/net/smtp.rb
@@ -75,10 +75,6 @@ class SMTPUnsupportedCommand < ProtocolError
     include SMTPError
   end
 
-  # Represents a need to use SMTPUTF8 when the server does not support it
-  class SMTPUTF8RequiredError < SMTPUnsupportedCommand
-  end
-
   #
   # == What is This Library?
   #
@@ -760,7 +756,6 @@ def any_require_smtputf8(addresses)
     # * Net::SMTPServerBusy
     # * Net::SMTPSyntaxError
     # * Net::SMTPFatalError
-    # * Net::SMTPUTF8RequiredError
     # * Net::SMTPUnknownError
     # * Net::ReadTimeout
     # * IOError
@@ -816,7 +811,6 @@ def send_message(msgstr, from_addr, *to_addrs)
     # * Net::SMTPServerBusy
     # * Net::SMTPSyntaxError
     # * Net::SMTPFatalError
-    # * Net::SMTPUTF8RequiredError
     # * Net::SMTPUnknownError
     # * Net::ReadTimeout
     # * IOError
@@ -893,8 +887,7 @@ def ehlo(domain)
 
     # +from_addr+ is +String+ or +Net::SMTP::Address+
     def mailfrom(from_addr)
-      addr = if requires_smtputf8(from_addr)
-               raise SMTPUTF8RequiredError, "Message requires SMTPUTF8 but server does not support that" unless capable? "SMTPUTF8"
+      addr = if requires_smtputf8(from_addr) && capable?("SMTPUTF8")
                Address.new(from_addr, "SMTPUTF8")
              else
                Address.new(from_addr)
diff --git a/test/net/smtp/test_smtp.rb b/test/net/smtp/test_smtp.rb
index 03ad611..4467e7b 100644
--- a/test/net/smtp/test_smtp.rb
+++ b/test/net/smtp/test_smtp.rb
@@ -547,9 +547,8 @@ def test_start_instance_invalid_number_of_arguments
     def test_send_smtputf_sender_without_server
       server = FakeServer.start(smtputf8: false)
       smtp = Net::SMTP.start 'localhost', server.port
-      assert_raise(Net::SMTPUTF8RequiredError) do
-        smtp.send_message('message', 'rené@example.com')
-      end
+      smtp.send_message('message', 'rené@example.com', 'foo@example.com')
+      assert server.commands.include? "MAIL FROM:<rené@example.com>\r\n"
     end
 
     def test_send_smtputf8_sender