diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/streaming/FileStreamSink.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/streaming/FileStreamSink.scala
index 638da08d0fd9..d561ee1ef730 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/streaming/FileStreamSink.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/streaming/FileStreamSink.scala
@@ -49,8 +49,8 @@ object FileStreamSink extends Logging {
 
     path match {
       case Seq(singlePath) =>
-        val hdfsPath = new Path(singlePath)
         try {
+          val hdfsPath = new Path(singlePath)
           val fs = hdfsPath.getFileSystem(hadoopConf)
           if (fs.getFileStatus(hdfsPath).isDirectory) {
             val metadataPath = getMetadataLogPath(fs, hdfsPath, sqlConf)
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/streaming/FileStreamSinkSuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/streaming/FileStreamSinkSuite.scala
index 04193d5189ae..2e80588fb282 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/streaming/FileStreamSinkSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/streaming/FileStreamSinkSuite.scala
@@ -651,6 +651,19 @@ abstract class FileStreamSinkSuite extends StreamTest {
       }
     }
   }
+
+  test("SPARK-48991: Move path initialization into try-catch block") {
+    val logAppender = new LogAppender("Assume no metadata directory.")
+    Seq(null, "", "file:tmp").foreach { path =>
+      withLogAppender(logAppender) {
+        assert(!FileStreamSink.hasMetadata(Seq(path), spark.sessionState.newHadoopConf(), conf))
+      }
+
+      assert(logAppender.loggingEvents.map(_.getMessage.getFormattedMessage).contains(
+        "Assume no metadata directory. Error while looking for metadata directory in the path:" +
+        s" $path."))
+    }
+  }
 }
 
 object PendingCommitFilesTrackingManifestFileCommitProtocol {