diff --git a/util-split.R b/util-split.R
index cdbf00bf..a8c26ad9 100644
--- a/util-split.R
+++ b/util-split.R
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 ## Copyright 2020 by Christian Hechtl <hechtl@cs.uni-saarland.de>
 ## Copyright 2017 by Felix Prasse <prassefe@fim.uni-passau.de>
 ## Copyright 2017-2018 by Thomas Bock <bockthom@fim.uni-passau.de>
-## Copyright 2020 by Thomas Bock <bockthom@cs.uni-saarland.de>
+## Copyright 2020, 2024 by Thomas Bock <bockthom@cs.uni-saarland.de>
 ## Copyright 2021 by Niklas Schneider <s8nlschn@stud.uni-saarland.de>
 ## Copyright 2021 by Johannes Hostert <s8johost@stud.uni-saarland.de>
 ## Copyright 2022 by Jonathan Baumann <joba00002@stud.uni-saarland.de>
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ split.data.by.bins = function(project.data, activity.amount, bins, split.basis =
 #' and the last range ends with the last timestamp.
 #'
 #' If timestamps are not provided, the custom event timestamps in \code{project.data} are
-#' used instead.
+#' used instead. If no custom event timestamps are available in \code{project.data}, an error is thrown.
 #'
 #' @param project.data the *Data object from which the data is retrieved
 #' @param bins a vector of timestamps [default: NULL]
@@ -148,6 +148,12 @@ split.data.time.based.by.timestamps = function(project.data, bins = NULL, projec
 
     if (is.null(bins)) { # bins were not provided, use custom timestamps from project
         bins = unlist(project.data$get.custom.event.timestamps())
+
+        if (is.null(bins)) { # stop if no custom timestamps are available
+            logging::logerror("There are no custom timestamps available for splitting (configured file: %s).",
+                              project.data$get.project.conf.entry("custom.event.timestamps.file"))
+            stop("Stopping due to missing data.")
+        }
     }
 
     return (split.data.time.based(project.data, bins = bins, project.conf.new));