I've got the following field:
@Embedded
private Address address = new Address();

If I create an object, but don't fill in any fields on address, when I restore it, address will be null (instead of having an Address object with all null properties). Is there a way to keep address from being set to null?

If it would just leave it alone, the default would take care of it, but it is being explicitly set null.

Scratch that: Taking the default is a bad idea. But, it seems a bit arbitrary to replace the object with null just because its fields are null. Is there are way to change this arbitrary behavior to do what I want instead? i.e. create the object, but set the fields to null.