diff --git a/core/src/components/datetime/datetime-util.ts b/core/src/components/datetime/datetime-util.ts
index c7a540e8e4..bd8ff7ab45 100644
--- a/core/src/components/datetime/datetime-util.ts
+++ b/core/src/components/datetime/datetime-util.ts
@@ -248,6 +248,17 @@ export function parseDate(val: string | undefined | null): DatetimeData | undefi
  * such as "01:47"
  */
 export const getLocalDateTime = (dateString: any = ''): Date => {
+  /**
+   * If user passed in undefined
+   * or null, convert it to the
+   * empty string since the rest
+   * of this functions expects
+   * a string
+   */
+  if (dateString === undefined || dateString === null) {
+    dateString = '';
+  }
+
   /**
    * Ensures that YYYY-MM-DD, YYYY-MM,
    * YYYY-DD, etc does not get affected
diff --git a/core/src/components/datetime/test/datetime.spec.ts b/core/src/components/datetime/test/datetime.spec.ts
index f099ae7ce4..6f0e21719f 100644
--- a/core/src/components/datetime/test/datetime.spec.ts
+++ b/core/src/components/datetime/test/datetime.spec.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { DatetimeData, daysInMonth, getDateValue, getLocalDateTime } from '../datetime-util';
+import { DatetimeData, daysInMonth, getDateValue, getLocalDateTime, renderDatetime } from '../datetime-util';
 
 describe('Datetime', () => {
   describe('getDateValue()', () => {
@@ -69,6 +69,17 @@ describe('Datetime', () => {
         expect(convertToLocal.toISOString()).toContain(test.expectedOutput);
       });
     });
+    
+    it('should default to today for null and undefined cases', () => {
+      const today = new Date();
+      const todayString = renderDatetime('YYYY-MM-DD', { year: today.getFullYear(), month: today.getMonth() + 1, day: today.getDate() } )
+      
+      const convertToLocalUndefined = getLocalDateTime(undefined);
+      expect(convertToLocalUndefined.toISOString()).toContain(todayString);
+      
+      const convertToLocalNull = getLocalDateTime(null);
+      expect(convertToLocalNull.toISOString()).toContain(todayString);
+    });
   });
 
   describe('daysInMonth()', () => {