diff --git a/src/scratchpad/src/org/apache/poi/hwpf/model/StyleSheet.java b/src/scratchpad/src/org/apache/poi/hwpf/model/StyleSheet.java
index babad02b8..c3e66f6e7 100644
--- a/src/scratchpad/src/org/apache/poi/hwpf/model/StyleSheet.java
+++ b/src/scratchpad/src/org/apache/poi/hwpf/model/StyleSheet.java
@@ -238,6 +238,10 @@ public final class StyleSheet implements HDFType {
 
           }
 
+          if (parentPAP == null) {
+              parentPAP = new ParagraphProperties();
+          }
+
           pap = ParagraphSprmUncompressor.uncompressPAP(parentPAP, papx, 2);
           sd.setPAP(pap);
       }
diff --git a/src/scratchpad/testcases/org/apache/poi/hwpf/extractor/TestWordExtractorBugs.java b/src/scratchpad/testcases/org/apache/poi/hwpf/extractor/TestWordExtractorBugs.java
index d328dfe40..6f7affe08 100644
--- a/src/scratchpad/testcases/org/apache/poi/hwpf/extractor/TestWordExtractorBugs.java
+++ b/src/scratchpad/testcases/org/apache/poi/hwpf/extractor/TestWordExtractorBugs.java
@@ -38,4 +38,13 @@ public final class TestWordExtractorBugs extends TestCase {
 		extractor.getParagraphText();
 		extractor.getTextFromPieces();
 	}
+
+    public void testBug50688() throws Exception {
+        WordExtractor extractor =
+            new WordExtractor(POIDataSamples.getDocumentInstance().openResourceAsStream("parentinvguid.doc"));
+
+        // Check it gives text without error
+        extractor.getText();
+    }
+    
 }
diff --git a/test-data/document/parentinvguid.doc b/test-data/document/parentinvguid.doc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f27cf3ee6
Binary files /dev/null and b/test-data/document/parentinvguid.doc differ