diff --git a/spring-restdocs-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/FieldPathPayloadSubsectionExtractor.java b/spring-restdocs-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/FieldPathPayloadSubsectionExtractor.java
index a4afda24..b0da8d42 100644
--- a/spring-restdocs-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/FieldPathPayloadSubsectionExtractor.java
+++ b/spring-restdocs-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/FieldPathPayloadSubsectionExtractor.java
@@ -75,6 +75,9 @@ public class FieldPathPayloadSubsectionExtractor
 			ExtractedField extractedField = new JsonFieldProcessor().extract(this.fieldPath,
 					objectMapper.readValue(payload, Object.class));
 			Object value = extractedField.getValue();
+			if (value == ExtractedField.ABSENT) {
+				throw new PayloadHandlingException(this.fieldPath + " does not identify a section of the payload");
+			}
 			if (value instanceof List) {
 				List<?> extractedList = (List<?>) value;
 				Set<String> uncommonPaths = JsonFieldPaths.from(extractedList).getUncommon();
diff --git a/spring-restdocs-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/FieldPathPayloadSubsectionExtractorTests.java b/spring-restdocs-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/FieldPathPayloadSubsectionExtractorTests.java
index 9db464a3..facf11db 100644
--- a/spring-restdocs-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/FieldPathPayloadSubsectionExtractorTests.java
+++ b/spring-restdocs-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/FieldPathPayloadSubsectionExtractorTests.java
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ import org.junit.rules.ExpectedException;
 import org.springframework.http.MediaType;
 
 import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThatThrownBy;
 
 /**
  * Tests for {@link FieldPathPayloadSubsectionExtractor}.
@@ -130,4 +131,12 @@ public class FieldPathPayloadSubsectionExtractorTests {
 		assertThat(new String(extractedSubsection)).isEqualTo(new String(subsection));
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void extractNonExistentSubsection() throws JsonParseException, JsonMappingException, IOException {
+		assertThatThrownBy(() -> new FieldPathPayloadSubsectionExtractor("a.c")
+				.extractSubsection("{\"a\":{\"b\":{\"c\":5}}}".getBytes(), MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON))
+						.isInstanceOf(PayloadHandlingException.class)
+						.hasMessage("a.c does not identify a section of the payload");
+	}
+
 }