diff --git a/distributed/utils_test.py b/distributed/utils_test.py
index c7af72d6f3b..fc0671e074c 100644
--- a/distributed/utils_test.py
+++ b/distributed/utils_test.py
@@ -568,9 +568,13 @@ def security():
     return tls_only_security()
 
 
-def _terminate_join(proc):
-    proc.terminate()
-    proc.join()
+def _kill_join(proc, timeout):
+    proc.kill()
+    proc.join(timeout)
+    if proc.is_alive():
+        raise multiprocessing.TimeoutError(
+            f"Process {proc} did not shut down within {timeout}s"
+        )
     proc.close()
 
 
@@ -586,7 +590,7 @@ def cluster(
     nanny=False,
     worker_kwargs=None,
     active_rpc_timeout=10,
-    disconnect_timeout=20,
+    shutdown_timeout=20,
     scheduler_kwargs=None,
     config=None,
 ):
@@ -618,7 +622,7 @@ def cluster(
             )
             ws.add(scheduler)
             scheduler.start()
-            stack.callback(_terminate_join, scheduler)
+            stack.callback(_kill_join, scheduler, shutdown_timeout)
 
             # Launch workers
             workers_by_pid = {}
@@ -640,7 +644,7 @@ def cluster(
                 )
                 ws.add(proc)
                 proc.start()
-                stack.callback(_terminate_join, proc)
+                stack.callback(_kill_join, proc, shutdown_timeout)
                 workers_by_pid[proc.pid] = {"proc": proc}
 
             saddr_or_exception = scheduler_q.get()
@@ -656,50 +660,27 @@ def cluster(
 
             start = time()
             try:
-                try:
-                    security = scheduler_kwargs["security"]
-                    rpc_kwargs = {
-                        "connection_args": security.get_connection_args("client")
-                    }
-                except KeyError:
-                    rpc_kwargs = {}
-
-                async def wait_for_workers():
-                    async with rpc(saddr, **rpc_kwargs) as s:
-                        while True:
-                            nthreads = await s.ncores_running()
-                            if len(nthreads) == nworkers:
-                                break
-                            if time() - start > 5:
-                                raise Exception("Timeout on cluster creation")
+                security = scheduler_kwargs["security"]
+                rpc_kwargs = {"connection_args": security.get_connection_args("client")}
+            except KeyError:
+                rpc_kwargs = {}
+
+            async def wait_for_workers():
+                async with rpc(saddr, **rpc_kwargs) as s:
+                    while True:
+                        nthreads = await s.ncores_running()
+                        if len(nthreads) == nworkers:
+                            break
+                        if time() - start > 5:
+                            raise Exception("Timeout on cluster creation")
 
-                _run_and_close_tornado(wait_for_workers)
+            _run_and_close_tornado(wait_for_workers)
 
-                # avoid sending processes down to function
-                yield {"address": saddr}, [
-                    {"address": w["address"], "proc": weakref.ref(w["proc"])}
-                    for w in workers_by_pid.values()
-                ]
-            finally:
-
-                async def close():
-                    logger.debug("Closing out test cluster")
-                    alive_workers = [
-                        w["address"]
-                        for w in workers_by_pid.values()
-                        if w["proc"].is_alive()
-                    ]
-                    await disconnect_all(
-                        alive_workers,
-                        timeout=disconnect_timeout,
-                        rpc_kwargs=rpc_kwargs,
-                    )
-                    if scheduler.is_alive():
-                        await disconnect(
-                            saddr, timeout=disconnect_timeout, rpc_kwargs=rpc_kwargs
-                        )
-
-                _run_and_close_tornado(close)
+            # avoid sending processes down to function
+            yield {"address": saddr}, [
+                {"address": w["address"], "proc": weakref.ref(w["proc"])}
+                for w in workers_by_pid.values()
+            ]
         try:
             client = default_client()
         except ValueError:
@@ -708,26 +689,6 @@ async def close():
             client.close()
 
 
-async def disconnect(addr, timeout=3, rpc_kwargs=None):
-    rpc_kwargs = rpc_kwargs or {}
-
-    async def do_disconnect():
-        async with rpc(addr, **rpc_kwargs) as w:
-            # If the worker was killed hard (e.g. sigterm) during test runtime,
-            # we do not know at this point and may not be able to connect
-            with suppress(EnvironmentError, CommClosedError):
-                # Do not request a reply since comms will be closed by the
-                # worker before a reply can be made and we will always trigger
-                # the timeout
-                await w.terminate(reply=False)
-
-    await asyncio.wait_for(do_disconnect(), timeout=timeout)
-
-
-async def disconnect_all(addresses, timeout=3, rpc_kwargs=None):
-    await asyncio.gather(*(disconnect(addr, timeout, rpc_kwargs) for addr in addresses))
-
-
 def gen_test(
     timeout: float = _TEST_TIMEOUT,
     clean_kwargs: dict[str, Any] | None = None,