The disclosure provides for a UE handling messages in wireless communication. The disclosure provides for a UE partially exchanging a first signaling-related message associated with a first UE configuration with a network entity and triggering a state transition message that initiates a change to a second UE configuration different from the first UE configuration. In an aspect, the UE determines that the first message has not been successfully received or successfully transmitted. In an aspect, the UE sends an indication message to coordinate discarding of the first message with the network entity and receives, after sending the indication message, a second signaling-related message associated with the second UE configuration. In another aspect, the UE, after partially sending a signaling-related message, receives a reconfiguration request associated with a second UE configuration. In an aspect, the UE determines that the message has not been successfully transmitted and causes a reconfiguration failure.