diff --git a/packages/node_modules/pouchdb-find/src/adapters/local/utils.js b/packages/node_modules/pouchdb-find/src/adapters/local/utils.js
index f97d21cf52..219a948911 100644
--- a/packages/node_modules/pouchdb-find/src/adapters/local/utils.js
+++ b/packages/node_modules/pouchdb-find/src/adapters/local/utils.js
@@ -75,6 +75,16 @@ function filterInclusiveStart(rows, targetValue, index) {
         docKey.pop();
       }
     }
+    // docs missing the indexed field are excluded from the index entirely
+    // to avoid a null pointer exception in collate.
+    var isMissingKey = Array.isArray(docKey) ?
+      docKey.some(function (k) { return k === undefined; }) :
+      docKey === undefined;
+    if (isMissingKey) {
+      ++startAt;
+      continue;
+    }
+
     //ABS as we just looking for values that don't match
     if (Math.abs(collate(docKey, targetValue)) > 0) {
       // no need to filter any further; we're past the key
diff --git a/tests/find/index.html b/tests/find/index.html
index 1566612eb0..c8dd4460be 100644
--- a/tests/find/index.html
+++ b/tests/find/index.html
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@
     <script src='./test-suite-2/test.kitchen-sink-2.js'></script>
     <script src='./test-issues/test.issue7810.js'></script>
     <script src='./test-issues/test.issue8389.js'></script>
+    <script src='./test-issues/test.issue9183.js'></script>
     <script type="text/javascript" src="../integration/webrunner.js"></script>
   </body>
 </html>
diff --git a/tests/find/test-issues/test.issue9183.js b/tests/find/test-issues/test.issue9183.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..cc651ae68a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/find/test-issues/test.issue9183.js
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+"use strict";
+
+describe("test.issue9183.js", function () {
+  var adapter = testUtils.adapterType();
+  var db = null;
+  var dbName = null;
+
+  beforeEach(function () {
+    dbName = testUtils.adapterUrl(adapter, "issue9183");
+    db = new PouchDB(dbName);
+    return db.bulkDocs([
+      { _id: "doc1", name: "Mario" },
+      { _id: "doc2" }, // Missing 'name' field
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  afterEach(function (done) {
+    testUtils.cleanup([dbName], done);
+  });
+
+  it("should not throw a null pointer exception when a document is missing the indexed field", function () {
+    return db
+      .createIndex({
+        index: { fields: ["name"] }
+      })
+      .then(function () {
+        return db.find({
+          selector: {
+            name: { $gt: null } // Try $gt instead of $gte
+          }
+        });
+      })
+      .then(function (res) {
+        res.docs.should.have.length(1);
+        res.docs[0]._id.should.equal("doc1");
+      });
+  });
+});