diff --git a/php.editor/src/org/netbeans/modules/php/editor/parser/PHPDocCommentParser.java b/php.editor/src/org/netbeans/modules/php/editor/parser/PHPDocCommentParser.java
--- a/php.editor/src/org/netbeans/modules/php/editor/parser/PHPDocCommentParser.java
+++ b/php.editor/src/org/netbeans/modules/php/editor/parser/PHPDocCommentParser.java
@@ -267,8 +267,11 @@
     }
 
     private List<PHPDocTypeNode> findTypes(String description, int startDescription, String originalComment, int originalCommentStart, boolean isReturnTag) {
+        if (StringUtils.isEmpty(description)) {
+            return Collections.emptyList();
+        }
+
         List<PHPDocTypeNode> result = new ArrayList<>();
-
         for (String stype : getTypes(description, isReturnTag)) {
             stype = removeHTMLTags(stype);
             int startDocNode = findStartOfDocNode(originalComment, originalCommentStart, stype, startDescription);
diff --git a/php.editor/test/unit/data/goldenfiles/org/netbeans/modules/php/editor/parser/PHPDocCommentParserTest/testIssue257953.pass b/php.editor/test/unit/data/goldenfiles/org/netbeans/modules/php/editor/parser/PHPDocCommentParserTest/testIssue257953.pass
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/php.editor/test/unit/data/goldenfiles/org/netbeans/modules/php/editor/parser/PHPDocCommentParserTest/testIssue257953.pass
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+<PHPDocBlock start='3' end='9'>
+    <Tags>
+        <PHPDocVarTypeTag start='3' end='12' kind='param'>
+            <Variable>
+                <PHPDocNode start='3' end='3' value=''/>
+            </Variable>
+            <Types>
+            </Types>
+        </PHPDocVarTypeTag>
+    </Tags>
+</PHPDocBlock>
diff --git a/php.editor/test/unit/src/org/netbeans/modules/php/editor/parser/PHPDocCommentParserTest.java b/php.editor/test/unit/src/org/netbeans/modules/php/editor/parser/PHPDocCommentParserTest.java
--- a/php.editor/test/unit/src/org/netbeans/modules/php/editor/parser/PHPDocCommentParserTest.java
+++ b/php.editor/test/unit/src/org/netbeans/modules/php/editor/parser/PHPDocCommentParserTest.java
@@ -342,6 +342,12 @@
         perform(comment, "Issue197946");
     }
 
+    public void testIssue257953() throws Exception {
+        // types should be an empty list
+        String comment = " * @param";
+        perform(comment, "testIssue257953");
+    }
+
     public void perform(String comment, String filename) throws Exception {
         PHPDocCommentParser parser = new PHPDocCommentParser();
         PHPDocBlock block = parser.parse(0, comment.length(), comment);
diff --git a/spellchecker.bindings.php/src/org/netbeans/modules/spellchecker/bindings/php/PHPTokenList.java b/spellchecker.bindings.php/src/org/netbeans/modules/spellchecker/bindings/php/PHPTokenList.java
--- a/spellchecker.bindings.php/src/org/netbeans/modules/spellchecker/bindings/php/PHPTokenList.java
+++ b/spellchecker.bindings.php/src/org/netbeans/modules/spellchecker/bindings/php/PHPTokenList.java
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@
 import javax.swing.text.BadLocationException;
 import javax.swing.text.Document;
 import org.netbeans.api.lexer.TokenSequence;
+import org.netbeans.modules.php.api.util.StringUtils;
 import org.netbeans.modules.php.editor.lexer.LexUtilities;
 import org.netbeans.modules.php.editor.lexer.PHPTokenId;
 import org.netbeans.modules.php.editor.parser.PHPDocCommentParser;
@@ -272,12 +273,19 @@
         List<PHPDocTypeNode> types = docTypeTag.getTypes();
         PHPDocTypeNode lastType = null;
         for (PHPDocTypeNode type : types) {
+            String value = type.getValue();
+            if (StringUtils.isEmpty(value)) {
+                continue;
+            }
             if (lastType == null || lastType.getEndOffset() < type.getEndOffset()) {
                 lastType = type;
             }
         }
         if (lastType != null) {
-            currentOffsetInComment = lastType.getEndOffset();
+            int endOffset = lastType.getEndOffset();
+            if (currentOffsetInComment < endOffset) {
+                currentOffsetInComment = endOffset;
+            }
         }
 
         if (docTypeTag instanceof PHPDocMethodTag) {
@@ -291,7 +299,10 @@
                 }
             }
             if (lastParam != null) {
-                currentOffsetInComment = lastParam.getEndOffset();
+                int endOffset = lastParam.getEndOffset();
+                if (currentOffsetInComment < endOffset) {
+                    currentOffsetInComment = endOffset;
+                }
             } else {
                 // ignore method name
                 PHPDocNode methodName = methodTag.getMethodName();
@@ -301,7 +312,7 @@
                             currentOffsetInComment,
                             LetterType.MethodName
                     );
-                    if (data.first().equals(methodName.getValue())) {
+                    if (data != null && data.first().equals(methodName.getValue())) {
                         currentOffsetInComment = getCurrentOffsetInComment(data);
                     }
                 }
diff --git a/spellchecker.bindings.php/test/unit/src/org/netbeans/modules/spellchecker/bindings/php/PHPTokenListTest.java b/spellchecker.bindings.php/test/unit/src/org/netbeans/modules/spellchecker/bindings/php/PHPTokenListTest.java
--- a/spellchecker.bindings.php/test/unit/src/org/netbeans/modules/spellchecker/bindings/php/PHPTokenListTest.java
+++ b/spellchecker.bindings.php/test/unit/src/org/netbeans/modules/spellchecker/bindings/php/PHPTokenListTest.java
@@ -64,6 +64,11 @@
         super(name);
     }
 
+    @Override
+    protected int timeOut() {
+        return 10000;
+    }
+
     public void testSimpleWordBroker() throws Exception {
         tokenListTest(
                 "  /**\n"
@@ -131,6 +136,14 @@
         );
     }
 
+    public void testIssue257953() throws Exception {
+        tokenListTest(
+                "  /**\n"
+                + " * @param\n"
+                + " */"
+        );
+    }
+
     public void testMethodTagHandling() throws Exception {
         tokenListTest(
                 "  /**\n"