diff --git a/Civi/Api4/Service/Spec/SpecGatherer.php b/Civi/Api4/Service/Spec/SpecGatherer.php
index 0e5225723dfe..e21223ccd478 100644
--- a/Civi/Api4/Service/Spec/SpecGatherer.php
+++ b/Civi/Api4/Service/Spec/SpecGatherer.php
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ private function addDAOFields(string $entityName, string $action, RequestSpec $s
       if (!empty($DAOField['component']) && !\CRM_Core_Component::isEnabled($DAOField['component'])) {
         continue;
       }
-      if ($DAOField['name'] == 'is_active' && empty($DAOField['default'])) {
+      if ($DAOField['name'] == 'is_active' && (!isset($DAOField['default']) || $DAOField['default'] === '')) {
         $DAOField['default'] = '1';
       }
       $this->setDynamicFk($DAOField, $values);
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/api/v4/Spec/SpecGathererTest.php b/tests/phpunit/api/v4/Spec/SpecGathererTest.php
index 04de1c46a4f5..f879af8c18c0 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/api/v4/Spec/SpecGathererTest.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/api/v4/Spec/SpecGathererTest.php
@@ -65,4 +65,11 @@ public function testWithSpecProvider(): void {
     $this->assertContains('foo', $fieldNames);
   }
 
+  public function testIsActiveFieldCanDefaultToFalse(): void {
+    $gatherer = new SpecGatherer();
+    // Use Dashboard as it has is_active field and that defaults to 0 (according to schema)
+    $specs = $gatherer->getSpec('Dashboard', 'create', FALSE);
+    self::assertFalse($specs->getFieldByName('is_active')->getDefaultValue(), 'Default value for "is_active" field is not false');
+  }
+
 }