diff --git a/src/DeserializationContext.php b/src/DeserializationContext.php
index 8edf30ffa..ed54d5898 100644
--- a/src/DeserializationContext.php
+++ b/src/DeserializationContext.php
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ class DeserializationContext extends Context
     /**
      * @var bool
      */
-    private $deserializeNull = false;
+    private $deserializeNull = true;
 
     public static function create(): self
     {
diff --git a/src/GraphNavigator/DeserializationGraphNavigator.php b/src/GraphNavigator/DeserializationGraphNavigator.php
index 60f559ee6..3ff5c65dc 100644
--- a/src/GraphNavigator/DeserializationGraphNavigator.php
+++ b/src/GraphNavigator/DeserializationGraphNavigator.php
@@ -125,11 +125,10 @@ public function accept($data, ?array $type = null)
         // If null is explicitly allowed we should skip this
         if ($this->visitor instanceof NullAwareVisitorInterface
             && true === $this->visitor->isNull($data)
-            && (!empty($type['nullable']) || false === $this->shouldDeserializeNull)
+            && true === $this->shouldDeserializeNull
         ) {
             $type = ['name' => 'NULL', 'params' => []];
         }
-
         switch ($type['name']) {
             case 'NULL':
                 return $this->visitor->visitNull($data, $type);
@@ -170,9 +169,11 @@ public function accept($data, ?array $type = null)
                 // before loading metadata because the type name might not be a class, but
                 // could also simply be an artifical type.
                 if (null !== $handler = $this->handlerRegistry->getHandler(GraphNavigatorInterface::DIRECTION_DESERIALIZATION, $type['name'], $this->format)) {
-                    $rs = \call_user_func($handler, $this->visitor, $data, $type, $this->context);
-                    $this->context->decreaseDepth();
-
+                    try {
+                        $rs = \call_user_func($handler, $this->visitor, $data, $type, $this->context);
+                    } finally {
+                        $this->context->decreaseDepth();
+                    }
                     return $rs;
                 }
 
@@ -219,9 +220,7 @@ public function accept($data, ?array $type = null)
                     try {
                         $v = $this->visitor->visitProperty($propertyMetadata, $data);
 
-                        if (null !== $v || true === $this->shouldDeserializeNull) {
-                            $this->accessor->setValue($object, $v, $propertyMetadata, $this->context);
-                        }
+                        $this->accessor->setValue($object, $v, $propertyMetadata, $this->context);
                     } catch (NotAcceptableException $e) {
                     }
                     $this->context->popPropertyMetadata();
diff --git a/src/JsonDeserializationVisitor.php b/src/JsonDeserializationVisitor.php
index f0b255c87..5b2696610 100644
--- a/src/JsonDeserializationVisitor.php
+++ b/src/JsonDeserializationVisitor.php
@@ -161,13 +161,6 @@ public function visitProperty(PropertyMetadata $metadata, $data)
         }
 
         if (true === $metadata->inline) {
-            if (!$metadata->type) {
-                throw new RuntimeException(sprintf(
-                    'You must define a type for %s::$%s.',
-                    $metadata->class,
-                    $metadata->name
-                ));
-            }
             return $this->navigator->accept($data, $metadata->type);
         }
 
@@ -176,7 +169,7 @@ public function visitProperty(PropertyMetadata $metadata, $data)
             throw new NotAcceptableException();
         }
 
-        return null !== $data[$name] ? $this->navigator->accept($data[$name], $metadata->type) : null;
+        return $this->navigator->accept($data[$name], $metadata->type);
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/tests/Fixtures/InitializedBlogPostConstructor.php b/tests/Fixtures/InitializedBlogPostConstructor.php
index 078978b67..6a514832e 100644
--- a/tests/Fixtures/InitializedBlogPostConstructor.php
+++ b/tests/Fixtures/InitializedBlogPostConstructor.php
@@ -14,9 +14,15 @@ class InitializedBlogPostConstructor implements ObjectConstructorInterface
 {
     private $fallback;
 
-    public function __construct()
+    /**
+     * @var BlogPost
+     */
+    private $blogPost;
+
+    public function __construct(BlogPost $blogPost)
     {
         $this->fallback = new UnserializeObjectConstructor();
+        $this->blogPost = $blogPost;
     }
 
     public function construct(DeserializationVisitorInterface $visitor, ClassMetadata $metadata, $data, array $type, DeserializationContext $context): ?object
@@ -25,6 +31,6 @@ public function construct(DeserializationVisitorInterface $visitor, ClassMetadat
             return $this->fallback->construct($visitor, $metadata, $data, $type, $context);
         }
 
-        return new BlogPost('This is a nice title.', new Author('Foo Bar'), new \DateTime('2011-07-30 00:00', new \DateTimeZone('UTC')), new Publisher('Bar Foo'));
+        return $this->blogPost;
     }
 }
diff --git a/tests/Serializer/BaseSerializationTest.php b/tests/Serializer/BaseSerializationTest.php
index b4005fd1b..69c015a74 100644
--- a/tests/Serializer/BaseSerializationTest.php
+++ b/tests/Serializer/BaseSerializationTest.php
@@ -216,7 +216,7 @@ public function testDeserializeNullObjectWithHandler()
             $this->markTestSkipped(sprintf('No deserializer available for format `%s`', $this->getFormat()));
         }
         $ctx = DeserializationContext::create()
-            ->setDeserializeNull(true);
+            ->setDeserializeNull(false);
 
         /** @var ObjectWithNullObject $dObj */
         $dObj = $this->serializer->deserialize(
@@ -750,14 +750,13 @@ public function testBlogPost()
 
     public function testDeserializingNull()
     {
-        $objectConstructor = new InitializedBlogPostConstructor();
+        $post = new BlogPost('This is a nice title.', $author = new Author('Foo Bar'), new \DateTime('2011-07-30 00:00', new \DateTimeZone('UTC')), new Publisher('Bar Foo'));
+        $objectConstructor = new InitializedBlogPostConstructor($post);
 
         $builder = SerializerBuilder::create();
         $builder->setObjectConstructor($objectConstructor);
         $this->serializer = $builder->build();
 
-        $post = new BlogPost('This is a nice title.', $author = new Author('Foo Bar'), new \DateTime('2011-07-30 00:00', new \DateTimeZone('UTC')), new Publisher('Bar Foo'));
-
         $this->setField($post, 'author', null);
         $this->setField($post, 'publisher', null);
 
@@ -771,37 +770,42 @@ public function testDeserializingNull()
             self::assertAttributeSame(false, 'published', $deserialized);
             self::assertAttributeSame(false, 'reviewed', $deserialized);
             self::assertAttributeEquals(new ArrayCollection(), 'comments', $deserialized);
-            self::assertAttributeEquals(null, 'author', $deserialized);
+            self::assertAttributeSame(null, 'author', $deserialized);
+            self::assertAttributeSame(null, 'tag', $deserialized);
         }
     }
 
     public function testDeserializingNullAllowed()
     {
-        $objectConstructor = new InitializedBlogPostConstructor();
+        $savedPost = new BlogPost('This is a nice title.', $author = new Author('Foo Bar'), new \DateTime('2011-07-30 00:00', new \DateTimeZone('UTC')), $publisher = new Publisher('Bar Foo'));
+        $savedPost->addTag(new Tag('foo'));
+        $initialTag = $this->getField($savedPost, 'tag');
+
+        $objectConstructor = new InitializedBlogPostConstructor($savedPost);
 
         $builder = SerializerBuilder::create();
         $builder->setObjectConstructor($objectConstructor);
         $this->serializer = $builder->build();
 
-        $post = new BlogPost('This is a nice title.', $author = new Author('Foo Bar'), new \DateTime('2011-07-30 00:00', new \DateTimeZone('UTC')), new Publisher('Bar Foo'));
-
+        $post = clone $savedPost;
         $this->setField($post, 'author', null);
         $this->setField($post, 'publisher', null);
-
-        self::assertEquals($this->getContent('blog_post_unauthored'), $this->serialize($post, SerializationContext::create()->setSerializeNull(true)));
+        $this->setField($post, 'tag', null);
 
         if ($this->hasDeserializer()) {
             $ctx =  DeserializationContext::create();
-            $ctx->setDeserializeNull(true);
+            $ctx->setDeserializeNull(false);
 
-            $deserialized = $this->deserialize($this->getContent('blog_post_unauthored'), get_class($post), $ctx);
+            $deserialized = $this->deserialize($this->serialize($post), get_class($post), $ctx);
 
             self::assertEquals('2011-07-30T00:00:00+00:00', $this->getField($deserialized, 'createdAt')->format(\DateTime::ATOM));
             self::assertAttributeEquals('This is a nice title.', 'title', $deserialized);
             self::assertAttributeSame(false, 'published', $deserialized);
             self::assertAttributeSame(false, 'reviewed', $deserialized);
             self::assertAttributeEquals(new ArrayCollection(), 'comments', $deserialized);
-            self::assertEquals(null, $this->getField($deserialized, 'author'));
+            self::assertAttributeEquals($author, 'author', $deserialized);
+            self::assertAttributeEquals($publisher, 'publisher', $deserialized);
+            self::assertAttributeEquals($initialTag, 'tag', $deserialized);
         }
     }