I have a custom page that copies items from one list in one site to another, and its failing with the exception above. I tried checking the field using sharepoint manager but I didnt find anything strange. The field where its failing its a managed metadata column the strange thing its that the exception is shown when checking if the field[internalname] is != null foreach (SPListItem item in listItems) { SPListItem targetItem = destinationList.Items.Add(); foreach (SPField field in item.Fields) { if (!field.ReadOnlyField && field.InternalName !="Attachments") { if (item[field.InternalName] != null) { **Update 1:** I tried these 2 ways and I still have the same error, its a managedmetadata field so no idea why its happeningn //if (item.GetFormattedValue(field.InternalName) != null) if (item[field.Id] != null)