diff --git a/src/main/java/com/yelp/nrtsearch/server/field/AtomFieldDef.java b/src/main/java/com/yelp/nrtsearch/server/field/AtomFieldDef.java
index 10e8e5b31..8da4656fd 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/yelp/nrtsearch/server/field/AtomFieldDef.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/yelp/nrtsearch/server/field/AtomFieldDef.java
@@ -84,8 +84,10 @@ protected Analyzer parseSearchAnalyzer(Field requestField) {
 
   @Override
   public SortField getSortField(SortType type) {
-    if (!hasDocValues()) {
-      throw new IllegalStateException("Doc values are required for sorted fields");
+    verifyDocValues("Sort field");
+    if (docValuesType != DocValuesType.SORTED && docValuesType != DocValuesType.SORTED_SET) {
+      throw new IllegalStateException(
+          "Sort field requires SORTED or SORTED_SET doc values: " + getName());
     }
     SortField sortField;
     if (isMultiValue()) {
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/yelp/nrtsearch/server/field/DateTimeFieldDef.java b/src/main/java/com/yelp/nrtsearch/server/field/DateTimeFieldDef.java
index bd803154c..1a498a8c9 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/yelp/nrtsearch/server/field/DateTimeFieldDef.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/yelp/nrtsearch/server/field/DateTimeFieldDef.java
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@
 import org.apache.lucene.search.IndexOrDocValuesQuery;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.Query;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.SortField;
+import org.apache.lucene.search.SortedNumericSortField;
 
 /** Field class for 'DATE_TIME' field type. */
 public class DateTimeFieldDef extends IndexableFieldDef<Instant>
@@ -88,13 +89,19 @@ public DateTimeFieldDef(
 
   @Override
   public SortField getSortField(SortType type) {
-    if (!hasDocValues()) {
-      throw new IllegalStateException("Doc values are required for sorted fields");
-    }
+    verifyDocValues("Sort field");
+    SortField sortField;
     if (isMultiValue()) {
-      throw new IllegalStateException("DATE_TIME does not support sort for multi value field");
+      sortField =
+          new SortedNumericSortField(
+              getName(),
+              SortField.Type.LONG,
+              type.getReverse(),
+              NUMERIC_TYPE_PARSER.apply(type.getSelector()));
+    } else {
+      sortField = new SortField(getName(), SortField.Type.LONG, type.getReverse());
     }
-    SortField sortField = new SortField(getName(), SortField.Type.LONG, type.getReverse());
+
     boolean missingLast = type.getMissingLast();
     sortField.setMissingValue(missingLast ? Long.MAX_VALUE : Long.MIN_VALUE);
     return sortField;
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/yelp/nrtsearch/server/field/LatLonFieldDef.java b/src/main/java/com/yelp/nrtsearch/server/field/LatLonFieldDef.java
index 868170753..023f4e571 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/yelp/nrtsearch/server/field/LatLonFieldDef.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/yelp/nrtsearch/server/field/LatLonFieldDef.java
@@ -121,9 +121,7 @@ public String getType() {
 
   @Override
   public SortField getSortField(SortType type) {
-    if (!hasDocValues()) {
-      throw new IllegalStateException("Doc values are required for sorted fields");
-    }
+    verifyDocValues("Sort field");
     Point origin = type.getOrigin();
     return LatLonDocValuesField.newDistanceSort(
         getName(), origin.getLatitude(), origin.getLongitude());
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/yelp/nrtsearch/server/field/NumberFieldDef.java b/src/main/java/com/yelp/nrtsearch/server/field/NumberFieldDef.java
index 41a56dbb2..97db78e19 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/yelp/nrtsearch/server/field/NumberFieldDef.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/yelp/nrtsearch/server/field/NumberFieldDef.java
@@ -262,9 +262,7 @@ public DoubleValuesSource getExpressionBinding(String property) {
 
   @Override
   public SortField getSortField(SortType type) {
-    if (!hasDocValues()) {
-      throw new IllegalStateException("Doc values are required for sorted fields");
-    }
+    verifyDocValues("Sort field");
     SortField sortField;
     if (isMultiValue()) {
       sortField =