diff --git a/src/underworld3/function/_function.pyx b/src/underworld3/function/_function.pyx
index 6c785af0..21fcf641 100644
--- a/src/underworld3/function/_function.pyx
+++ b/src/underworld3/function/_function.pyx
@@ -347,6 +347,16 @@ def _lambdify_and_evaluate(expr, coords, interpolated_results, coord_sys=None, m
     return results.reshape(-1, *shape)
 
 
+def _global_fallback_indices(return_value, return_mask):
+    """Indices requiring the parallel best-claim fallback.
+
+    A point needs recovery when migration/location marks it extrapolated or
+    when interpolation returned a non-finite value despite a located flag.
+    """
+    nonfinite = ~np.isfinite(return_value).all(axis=(1, 2))
+    return np.where(return_mask[:, 0, 0] | nonfinite)[0]
+
+
 def global_evaluate_nd(   expr,
                 coords=None,
                 coord_sys=None,
@@ -589,7 +599,12 @@ def global_evaluate_nd(   expr,
         from mpi4py import MPI
 
         comm = uw.mpi.comm
-        ext_idx = np.where(return_mask[:, 0, 0])[0]
+        # A failed interpolation can occasionally return NaN while reporting
+        # the point as located. Treat that exactly like an extrapolated/lost
+        # point so a finite value from the globally nearest rank replaces it.
+        # This is required by SLCN midpoint tracing: one silent NaN here makes
+        # the departure point and then the transported history non-finite.
+        ext_idx = _global_fallback_indices(return_value, return_mask)
         ext_coords = np.ascontiguousarray(coords_array[ext_idx], dtype=np.float64)
 
         counts = np.array(comm.allgather(ext_coords.shape[0]), dtype=int)
diff --git a/tests/parallel/test_0760_swarm_cache_migration.py b/tests/parallel/test_0760_swarm_cache_migration.py
index d27475af..b8b02953 100644
--- a/tests/parallel/test_0760_swarm_cache_migration.py
+++ b/tests/parallel/test_0760_swarm_cache_migration.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 import pytest
 import numpy as np
 import underworld3 as uw
+from underworld3.function._function import _global_fallback_indices
 from mpi4py import MPI
 
 pytestmark = [pytest.mark.mpi(min_size=2), pytest.mark.timeout(60)]
@@ -101,3 +102,18 @@ def test_global_evaluate_displaced_nodes():
         f"Rank {uw.mpi.rank}: expected {node_coords.shape[0]} results, "
         f"got {result.shape[0]}"
     )
+
+
+@pytest.mark.level_1
+@pytest.mark.tier_a
+def test_global_fallback_includes_nonfinite_located_values():
+    """Located NaN values must enter the same recovery path as lost points."""
+    values = np.ones((4, 1, 2))
+    values[1, 0, 0] = np.nan
+    mask = np.zeros((4, 1, 1), dtype=bool)
+    mask[2, 0, 0] = True
+
+    assert np.array_equal(
+        _global_fallback_indices(values, mask),
+        np.array([1, 2]),
+    )