diff --git a/editor/components/rich-text/index.js b/editor/components/rich-text/index.js
index 6f4054c760c34..5d43e8be510ca 100644
--- a/editor/components/rich-text/index.js
+++ b/editor/components/rich-text/index.js
@@ -580,25 +580,13 @@ export class RichText extends Component {
 
 		const rootNode = this.editor.getBody();
 
-		// In case split occurs at the trailing or leading edge of the field,
-		// shortcut with assumption that the before/after values respectively
-		// reflect the current value. This also provides an opportunity for the
-		// parent component to determine whether the before/after value has
-		// changed using a trivial strict equality operation.
-		if ( isHorizontalEdge( rootNode ) ) {
-			onSplit( this.props.value, [], ...blocks );
-			return;
-		} else if ( isHorizontalEdge( rootNode, true ) ) {
-			onSplit( [], this.props.value, ...blocks );
-			return;
-		}
-
-		const { dom } = this.editor;
-		const beforeRange = dom.createRng();
-		const afterRange = dom.createRng();
-		const selectionRange = this.editor.selection.getRng();
-
+		let before, after;
 		if ( rootNode.childNodes.length ) {
+			const { dom } = this.editor;
+			const beforeRange = dom.createRng();
+			const afterRange = dom.createRng();
+			const selectionRange = this.editor.selection.getRng();
+
 			beforeRange.setStart( rootNode, 0 );
 			beforeRange.setEnd( selectionRange.startContainer, selectionRange.startOffset );
 
@@ -609,20 +597,32 @@ export class RichText extends Component {
 			const afterFragment = afterRange.extractContents();
 
 			const { format } = this.props;
-			let before = domToFormat( filterEmptyNodes( beforeFragment.childNodes ), format, this.editor );
-			let after = domToFormat( filterEmptyNodes( afterFragment.childNodes ), format, this.editor );
+			before = domToFormat( filterEmptyNodes( beforeFragment.childNodes ), format, this.editor );
+			after = domToFormat( filterEmptyNodes( afterFragment.childNodes ), format, this.editor );
+		} else {
+			before = [];
+			after = [];
+		}
 
-			if ( context.paste ) {
-				before = this.isEmpty( before ) ? null : before;
-				after = this.isEmpty( after ) ? null : after;
-			}
+		// In case split occurs at the trailing or leading edge of the field,
+		// assume that the before/after values respectively reflect the current
+		// value. This also provides an opportunity for the parent component to
+		// determine whether the before/after value has changed using a trivial
+		//  strict equality operation.
+		if ( this.isEmpty( after ) ) {
+			before = this.props.value;
+		} else if ( this.isEmpty( before ) ) {
+			after = this.props.value;
+		}
 
-			this.restoreContentAndSplit( before, after, blocks );
-		} else if ( context.paste ) {
-			this.restoreContentAndSplit( null, null, blocks );
-		} else {
-			this.restoreContentAndSplit( [], [], blocks );
+		// If pasting and the split would result in no content other than the
+		// pasted blocks, remove the before and after blocks.
+		if ( context.paste ) {
+			before = this.isEmpty( before ) ? null : before;
+			after = this.isEmpty( after ) ? null : after;
 		}
+
+		this.restoreContentAndSplit( before, after, blocks );
 	}
 
 	onNewBlock() {