deserialization error

I can serialize and store a class instance inside of a database cell. no problem. I can retrieve that data as well, no issues there. But if I change the class between the serialization and deserialization class, It will throw an exception because one of the class fields has been altered. How can I avoid this? Is there a way to get a finer degree of control over the serialization/deserialization process so that even if one field doesnt get deserialized correctly, the rest will?