given:
public class Customer
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string FirstName { get; set; }
public DateTime Birthdate { get; set; }
}
Unless that's mapped to a Database, I'd make it nullable:
public class Customer
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string FirstName { get; set; }
public DateTime? Birthdate { get; set; }
}
EDIT:
If it IS mapped, then I'd just make a readonly nullable value for it:
public DateTime? BirthdateDisplay
{
get
{
if (this.Birthdate == default(DateTime))
return null;
else
return this.Birthdate;
}
}