diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/compute/expression.cc b/cpp/src/arrow/compute/expression.cc
index 3c2ec100402..2563674a59c 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/compute/expression.cc
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/compute/expression.cc
@@ -687,7 +687,8 @@ Result<ExecBatch> MakeExecBatch(const Schema& full_schema, const Datum& partial,
   }
 
   // wasteful but useful for testing:
-  if (partial.type()->id() == Type::STRUCT) {
+  const auto& partial_type = partial.type();
+  if (partial_type && partial_type->id() == Type::STRUCT) {
     if (partial.is_array()) {
       ARROW_ASSIGN_OR_RAISE(auto partial_batch,
                             RecordBatch::FromStructArray(partial.make_array()));
diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/compute/expression_test.cc b/cpp/src/arrow/compute/expression_test.cc
index bbab57feebb..5e1f3c093ee 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/compute/expression_test.cc
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/compute/expression_test.cc
@@ -224,6 +224,9 @@ TEST(ExpressionUtils, MakeExecBatch) {
   auto duplicated_names =
       RecordBatch::Make(schema({GetField("i32"), GetField("i32")}), kNumRows, {i32, i32});
   ASSERT_RAISES(Invalid, MakeExecBatch(*kBoringSchema, duplicated_names));
+
+  ASSERT_OK_AND_ASSIGN(auto boring_table, Table::MakeEmpty(kBoringSchema));
+  ASSERT_RAISES(NotImplemented, MakeExecBatch(*kBoringSchema, boring_table));
 }
 
 class WidgetifyOptions : public compute::FunctionOptions {