diff --git a/tfprotov5/state.go b/tfprotov5/state.go
index 4c0bc454f..d66ed5c5d 100644
--- a/tfprotov5/state.go
+++ b/tfprotov5/state.go
@@ -1,5 +1,25 @@
 package tfprotov5
 
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+
+	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform-plugin-go/tfprotov5/tftypes"
+)
+
+// ErrUnknownRawStateType is returned when a RawState has no Flatmap or JSON
+// bytes set. This should never be returned during the normal operation of a
+// provider, and indicates one of the following:
+//
+// 1. terraform-plugin-go is out of sync with the protocol and should be
+// updated.
+//
+// 2. terrafrom-plugin-go has a bug.
+//
+// 3. The `RawState` was generated or modified by something other than
+// terraform-plugin-go and is no longer a valid value.
+var ErrUnknownRawStateType = errors.New("RawState had no JSON or flatmap data set")
+
 // RawState is the raw, undecoded state for providers to upgrade. It is
 // undecoded as Terraform, for whatever reason, doesn't have the previous
 // schema available to it, and so cannot decode the state itself and pushes
@@ -13,3 +33,47 @@ type RawState struct {
 	JSON    []byte
 	Flatmap map[string]string
 }
+
+// Unmarshal returns a `tftypes.Value` that represents the information
+// contained in the RawState in an easy-to-interact-with way. It is the
+// main purpose of the RawState type, and is how provider developers should
+// obtain state values from the UpgradeResourceState RPC call.
+//
+// Pass in the type you want the `Value` to be interpreted as. Terraform's type
+// system encodes in a lossy manner, meaning the type information is not
+// preserved losslessly when going over the wire. Sets, lists, and tuples all
+// look the same. Objects and maps all look the same, as well, as do
+// user-specified values when DynamicPseudoType is used in the schema.
+// Fortunately, the provider should already know the type; it should be the
+// type of the schema, or DynamicPseudoType if that's what's in the schema.
+// `Unmarshal` will then parse the value as though it belongs to that type, if
+// possible, and return a `tftypes.Value` with the appropriate information. If
+// the data can't be interpreted as that type, an error will be returned saying
+// so. In these cases, double check to make sure the schema is declaring the
+// same type being passed into `Unmarshal`.
+//
+// In the event an ErrUnknownRawStateType is returned, one of three things
+// has happened:
+//
+// 1. terraform-plugin-go is out of date and out of sync with the protocol, and
+// an issue should be opened on its repo to get it updated.
+//
+// 2. terraform-plugin-go has a bug somewhere, and an issue should be opened on
+// its repo to get it fixed.
+//
+// 3. The provider or a dependency has modified the `RawState` in an
+// unsupported way, or has created one from scratch, and should treat it as
+// opaque and not modify it, only calling `Unmarshal` on `RawState`s received
+// from RPC requests.
+//
+// State files written before Terraform 0.12 that haven't been upgraded yet
+// cannot be unmarshaled, and must have their Flatmap property read directly.
+func (s RawState) Unmarshal(typ tftypes.Type) (tftypes.Value, error) {
+	if s.JSON != nil {
+		return jsonUnmarshal(s.JSON, typ, tftypes.AttributePath{})
+	}
+	if s.Flatmap != nil {
+		return tftypes.Value{}, fmt.Errorf("flatmap states cannot be unmarshaled, only states written by Terraform 0.12 and higher can be unmarshaled")
+	}
+	return tftypes.Value{}, ErrUnknownRawStateType
+}