diff --git a/lib/datatypes.js b/lib/datatypes.js
index c26a0a2f..5768aaea 100644
--- a/lib/datatypes.js
+++ b/lib/datatypes.js
@@ -238,6 +238,26 @@ datatypes = {
       // FIXME: Does escaping a JSONized object make sense?
       return _serialize(val, opts);
     }
+  , unserialize: function(input, options) {
+      // unserialize strings only
+      if (typeof input == 'string') {
+        // catch exceptions from JSON.parse and return a null object instead
+        try {
+          return JSON.parse(input);
+        }
+        catch (err) {
+          return null;
+        }
+      }
+      // if it's already an object we do not need to unserialize
+      else if (typeof input == 'object') {
+        return input;
+      }
+      // as a fallback return a null object
+      else {
+        return null;
+      }
+    }
   }
 
 , 'date': {
diff --git a/lib/index.js b/lib/index.js
index 1bb55767..f040716e 100644
--- a/lib/index.js
+++ b/lib/index.js
@@ -482,6 +482,7 @@ utils.mixin(model, new (function () {
 
     obj.all = function () {
       var args = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments)
+        , Query = Query || require('./query/query').Query
         , callback = args.pop() || function () {}
         , query = args.shift() || {}
         , opts = args.shift() || {}
@@ -580,6 +581,7 @@ utils.mixin(model, new (function () {
 
     obj.update = function () {
       var args = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments)
+        , Query = Query || require('./query/query').Query
         , data
         , callback
         , query
@@ -629,6 +631,7 @@ utils.mixin(model, new (function () {
 
     obj.remove = function () {
       var args = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments)
+        , Query = Query || require('./query/query').Query
         , query
         , callback
         , opts
@@ -755,13 +758,17 @@ utils.mixin(model, new (function () {
       , name = item.type
       , type = model.descriptionRegistry[name]
       , properties = type.properties
+      , property
       , validated = null
       , errs = null
       , camelizedKey
       , skip = opts.skip
       , skipKeys = {}
+      , datatype
       , val;
 
+    this.datatypes = this.datatypes || require('./datatypes');
+
     item.emit('beforeValidate')
     model[name].emit('beforeValidate', item, passedParams);
 
@@ -774,7 +781,28 @@ utils.mixin(model, new (function () {
       for (var p in passedParams) {
         // Allow leading underscores in the keys for pseudo-privates
         camelizedKey = utils.string.camelize(p, {leadingUnderscore: true});
-        params[camelizedKey] = passedParams[p];
+
+        // user defined properties might need unserialization
+        if (typeof properties[camelizedKey] != 'undefined') {
+          property = properties[camelizedKey];
+
+          if (typeof this.datatypes[property.datatype] != 'undefined') {
+            datatype = this.datatypes[property.datatype];
+
+            // unserialize the property if it's datatype has an unserialize method
+            if (typeof datatype['unserialize'] == 'function') {
+              val = datatype.unserialize(passedParams[p]);
+            } else {
+              val = passedParams[p];
+            }
+          } else {
+            val = passedParams[p];
+          }
+        } else {
+          val = passedParams[p];
+        }
+
+        params[camelizedKey] = val;
       }
     }
     else {
@@ -835,6 +863,8 @@ utils.mixin(model, new (function () {
 
   this.validateProperty = function (prop, params, opts) {
 
+    this.datatypes = this.datatypes || require('./datatypes');
+
     var options = opts || {}
       , name = prop.name
       , val = params[name]