isInitialized – Backing field of lateinit var is not accessible at this point

A really simple workaround to the constraints described by the accepted answer is the following:

class LateClass {
    lateinit var thing: Thing
    fun isThingInitialized() = ::thing.isInitialized
}

class Client {
    val lateClass = LateClass()
    ... things happen ...
    if (lateClass.isThingInitialized() {
        // do stuff with lateClass.thing, safely
    }
}