diff --git a/mongoengine/django/auth.py b/mongoengine/django/auth.py
index 65afacfd..3776d546 100644
--- a/mongoengine/django/auth.py
+++ b/mongoengine/django/auth.py
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-import datetime
-
 from mongoengine import *
 
 from django.utils.encoding import smart_str
@@ -33,6 +31,7 @@ except ImportError:
         hash = get_hexdigest(algo, salt, raw_password)
         return '%s$%s$%s' % (algo, salt, hash)
 
+from .utils import datetime_now
 
 REDIRECT_FIELD_NAME = 'next'
 
@@ -62,9 +61,9 @@ class User(Document):
     is_superuser = BooleanField(default=False,
                                 verbose_name=_('superuser status'),
                                 help_text=_("Designates that this user has all permissions without explicitly assigning them."))
-    last_login = DateTimeField(default=datetime.datetime.now,
+    last_login = DateTimeField(default=datetime_now,
                                verbose_name=_('last login'))
-    date_joined = DateTimeField(default=datetime.datetime.now,
+    date_joined = DateTimeField(default=datetime_now,
                                 verbose_name=_('date joined'))
 
     meta = {
@@ -130,7 +129,7 @@ class User(Document):
         """Create (and save) a new user with the given username, password and
         email address.
         """
-        now = datetime.datetime.now()
+        now = datetime_now()
 
         # Normalize the address by lowercasing the domain part of the email
         # address.
diff --git a/mongoengine/django/sessions.py b/mongoengine/django/sessions.py
index f1783429..6e964a70 100644
--- a/mongoengine/django/sessions.py
+++ b/mongoengine/django/sessions.py
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-from datetime import datetime
-
 from django.conf import settings
 from django.contrib.sessions.backends.base import SessionBase, CreateError
 from django.core.exceptions import SuspiciousOperation
@@ -10,6 +8,8 @@ from mongoengine import fields
 from mongoengine.queryset import OperationError
 from mongoengine.connection import DEFAULT_CONNECTION_NAME
 
+from .utils import datetime_now
+
 
 MONGOENGINE_SESSION_DB_ALIAS = getattr(
     settings, 'MONGOENGINE_SESSION_DB_ALIAS',
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ class SessionStore(SessionBase):
     def load(self):
         try:
             s = MongoSession.objects(session_key=self.session_key,
-                                     expire_date__gt=datetime.now())[0]
+                                     expire_date__gt=datetime_now())[0]
             return self.decode(force_unicode(s.session_data))
         except (IndexError, SuspiciousOperation):
             self.create()
diff --git a/mongoengine/django/utils.py b/mongoengine/django/utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d3ef8a4b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mongoengine/django/utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+try:
+    # django >= 1.4
+    from django.utils.timezone import now as datetime_now
+except ImportError:
+    from datetime import datetime
+    datetime_now = datetime.now