diff --git a/mapping/document.go b/mapping/document.go
index 6b903889..d62675e5 100644
--- a/mapping/document.go
+++ b/mapping/document.go
@@ -513,21 +513,25 @@ func (dm *DocumentMapping) processProperty(property interface{}, path []string,
 		}
 		dm.walkDocument(property, path, indexes, context)
 	case reflect.Ptr:
-		switch property := property.(type) {
-		case encoding.TextMarshaler:
-			txt, err := property.MarshalText()
-			if err == nil && subDocMapping != nil {
-				// index by explicit mapping
-				for _, fieldMapping := range subDocMapping.Fields {
-					if fieldMapping.Type == "text" {
-						fieldMapping.processString(string(txt), pathString, path, indexes, context)
+		if !propertyValue.IsNil() {
+			switch property := property.(type) {
+			case encoding.TextMarshaler:
+
+				txt, err := property.MarshalText()
+				if err == nil && subDocMapping != nil {
+					// index by explicit mapping
+					for _, fieldMapping := range subDocMapping.Fields {
+						if fieldMapping.Type == "text" {
+							fieldMapping.processString(string(txt), pathString, path, indexes, context)
+						}
 					}
+				} else {
+					dm.walkDocument(property, path, indexes, context)
 				}
-			} else {
+
+			default:
 				dm.walkDocument(property, path, indexes, context)
 			}
-		default:
-			dm.walkDocument(property, path, indexes, context)
 		}
 	default:
 		dm.walkDocument(property, path, indexes, context)
diff --git a/mapping/mapping_test.go b/mapping/mapping_test.go
index e16052b1..5cd86015 100644
--- a/mapping/mapping_test.go
+++ b/mapping/mapping_test.go
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"reflect"
 	"testing"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/blevesearch/bleve/analysis/tokenizer/exception"
 	"github.com/blevesearch/bleve/analysis/tokenizer/regexp"
@@ -966,3 +967,27 @@ func TestMappingForTextMarshaler(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 
 }
+
+func TestMappingForNilTextMarshaler(t *testing.T) {
+	tm := struct {
+		Marshalable *time.Time
+	}{
+		Marshalable: nil,
+	}
+
+	// now verify that when a mapping explicity
+	m := NewIndexMapping()
+	txt := NewTextFieldMapping()
+	m.DefaultMapping.AddFieldMappingsAt("Marshalable", txt)
+	doc := document.NewDocument("x")
+	err := m.MapDocument(doc, tm)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	if len(doc.Fields) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected 1 field, got: %d", len(doc.Fields))
+
+	}
+
+}