diff --git a/git-flow-release b/git-flow-release
index bff9561..b998673 100644
--- a/git-flow-release
+++ b/git-flow-release
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@
 }
 
 cmd_start() {
-	DEFINE_boolean fetch true "fetch from $ORIGIN before performing finish" F
+	DEFINE_boolean fetch false "fetch from $ORIGIN before performing finish" F
 	parse_args "$@"
 	BASE=${2:-$DEVELOP_BRANCH}
 	require_version_arg
@@ -162,7 +162,9 @@
 	if flag fetch; then
 		git fetch -q "$ORIGIN" "$DEVELOP_BRANCH"
 	fi
-	require_branches_equal "$DEVELOP_BRANCH" "$ORIGIN/$DEVELOP_BRANCH"
+	if has "$ORIGIN/$DEVELOP_BRANCH" "$(git_remote_branches)"; then
+		require_branches_equal "$DEVELOP_BRANCH" "$ORIGIN/$DEVELOP_BRANCH"
+	fi
 
 	# create branch
 	git checkout -b "$BRANCH" "$BASE"
@@ -182,7 +184,7 @@
 }
 
 cmd_finish() {
-	DEFINE_boolean fetch true "fetch from $ORIGIN before performing finish" F
+	DEFINE_boolean fetch false "fetch from $ORIGIN before performing finish" F
 	DEFINE_boolean sign false "sign the release tag cryptographically" s
 	DEFINE_string signingkey "" "use the given GPG-key for the digital signature (implies -s)" u
 	DEFINE_string message "" "use the given tag message" m
@@ -205,8 +207,12 @@
 		git fetch -q "$ORIGIN" "$DEVELOP_BRANCH" || \
 		  die "Could not fetch $DEVELOP_BRANCH from $ORIGIN."
 	fi
-	require_branches_equal "$MASTER_BRANCH" "$ORIGIN/$MASTER_BRANCH"
-	require_branches_equal "$DEVELOP_BRANCH" "$ORIGIN/$DEVELOP_BRANCH"
+	if has "$ORIGIN/$MASTER_BRANCH" "$(git_remote_branches)"; then
+		require_branches_equal "$MASTER_BRANCH" "$ORIGIN/$MASTER_BRANCH"
+	fi
+	if has "$ORIGIN/$DEVELOP_BRANCH" "$(git_remote_branches)"; then
+		require_branches_equal "$DEVELOP_BRANCH" "$ORIGIN/$DEVELOP_BRANCH"
+	fi
 
 	# try to merge into master
 	# in case a previous attempt to finish this release branch has failed,