diff --git a/LICENSE b/LICENSE
index 0eb9b72..382d7de 100644
--- a/LICENSE
+++ b/LICENSE
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 Copyright (c) 2014, Evan Phoenix
+              2018, Google LLC
 All rights reserved.
 
 Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 
diff --git a/patch.go b/patch.go
index de70dbc..42cf867 100644
--- a/patch.go
+++ b/patch.go
@@ -104,6 +104,10 @@ func (n *lazyNode) compact() []byte {
 }
 
 func (n *lazyNode) tryDoc() bool {
+	if n.raw == nil {
+		return false
+	}
+
 	err := json.Unmarshal(*n.raw, &n.doc)
 
 	if err != nil {
@@ -115,6 +119,10 @@ func (n *lazyNode) tryDoc() bool {
 }
 
 func (n *lazyNode) tryAry() bool {
+	if n.raw == nil {
+		return false
+	}
+
 	err := json.Unmarshal(*n.raw, &n.ary)
 
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/patch_test.go b/patch_test.go
index 40ff5af..9b441c7 100644
--- a/patch_test.go
+++ b/patch_test.go
@@ -314,6 +314,18 @@ var TestCases = []TestCase{
 		true,
 		"",
 	},
+	{
+		`{ "foo": {} }`,
+		`[ { "op": "test", "path": "/foo", "value": null } ]`,
+		false,
+		"/foo",
+	},
+	{
+		`{ "foo": [] }`,
+		`[ { "op": "test", "path": "/foo", "value": null } ]`,
+		false,
+		"/foo",
+	},
 	{
 		`{ "baz/foo": "qux" }`,
 		`[ { "op": "test", "path": "/baz~1foo", "value": "qux"} ]`,