diff --git a/js/paragraph-whitespace.js b/js/paragraph-whitespace.js
index 5b9cce48..e928d4f3 100644
--- a/js/paragraph-whitespace.js
+++ b/js/paragraph-whitespace.js
@@ -12,3 +12,12 @@ jQuery(function ($) {
       }
     });
 });
+
+ // remove top padding from first paragraph element if no body field is present
+jQuery(function ($) {
+  if($('.field--name-body').length){ }
+    else {
+       // find next div with paragraph class after title div then add a class to remove padding
+      $('#block-illinois-framework-theme-page-title').next('.paragraph').addClass('remove-padding--top');
+    }
+  });
diff --git a/scss/illinois-framework/_paragraphs.rt.scss b/scss/illinois-framework/_paragraphs.rt.scss
index 55187281..7489fa27 100644
--- a/scss/illinois-framework/_paragraphs.rt.scss
+++ b/scss/illinois-framework/_paragraphs.rt.scss
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 .paragraph--type--rt {
+  @extend %paragraphs-padding;
   h3 {
     color: var(--il-blue) !important;
   }
diff --git a/scss/illinois-framework/utilities/_padding.scss b/scss/illinois-framework/utilities/_padding.scss
index 5a457416..c2859ed2 100644
--- a/scss/illinois-framework/utilities/_padding.scss
+++ b/scss/illinois-framework/utilities/_padding.scss
@@ -4,3 +4,7 @@
 .reduce-padding--top {
   padding-top: 1rem !important;
 }
+.remove-padding--top {
+  padding-top: 0 !important;
+}
+