diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/csv/CSVRecord.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/csv/CSVRecord.java
index 471e94db..e32cd5a7 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/csv/CSVRecord.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/csv/CSVRecord.java
@@ -83,6 +83,12 @@ public final class CSVRecord implements Serializable, Iterable<String> {
     /**
      * Returns a value by name.
      *
+     * <p>Note: This requires a field mapping obtained from the original parser.
+     * A check using {@link #isMapped(String)} should be used to determine if a
+     * mapping exists from the provide {@code name} to a field index. In this case an
+     * exception will only be thrown if the record does not contain a field corresponding
+     * to the mapping, that is the record length is not consistent with the mapping size.
+     *
      * @param name
      *            the name of the column to be retrieved.
      * @return the column value, maybe null depending on {@link CSVFormat#getNullString()}.
@@ -90,7 +96,9 @@ public final class CSVRecord implements Serializable, Iterable<String> {
      *             if no header mapping was provided
      * @throws IllegalArgumentException
      *             if {@code name} is not mapped or if the record is inconsistent
+     * @see #isMapped(String)
      * @see #isConsistent()
+     * @see #getParser()
      * @see CSVFormat#withNullString(String)
      */
     public String get(final String name) {
@@ -136,12 +144,15 @@ public final class CSVRecord implements Serializable, Iterable<String> {
     }
 
     private Map<String, Integer> getHeaderMapRaw() {
-        return parser.getHeaderMapRaw();
+        return parser == null ? null : parser.getHeaderMapRaw();
     }
 
     /**
      * Returns the parser.
      *
+     * <p>Note: The parser is not part of the serialized state of the record. A null check
+     * should be used when the record may have originated from a serialized form. 
+     *
      * @return the parser.
      * @since 1.7
      */
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/csv/CSVRecordTest.java b/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/csv/CSVRecordTest.java
index 476bac22..8d11d538 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/csv/CSVRecordTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/csv/CSVRecordTest.java
@@ -23,12 +23,15 @@ import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertNull;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertThrows;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue;
 
+import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
 import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.ObjectInputStream;
 import java.io.ObjectOutputStream;
 import java.io.StringReader;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.TreeMap;
 import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap;
@@ -192,15 +195,58 @@ public class CSVRecordTest {
     }
 
     @Test
-    public void testSerialization() throws IOException {
+    public void testSerialization() throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException {
         CSVRecord shortRec;
-        try (final CSVParser parser = CSVParser.parse("a,b", CSVFormat.newFormat(','))) {
+        try (final CSVParser parser = CSVParser.parse("A,B\n#my comment\nOne,Two", CSVFormat.DEFAULT.withHeader().withCommentMarker('#'))) {
             shortRec = parser.iterator().next();
         }
         final ByteArrayOutputStream out = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
         try (ObjectOutputStream oos = new ObjectOutputStream(out)) {
             oos.writeObject(shortRec);
         }
+        final ByteArrayInputStream in = new ByteArrayInputStream(out.toByteArray());
+        try (ObjectInputStream ois = new ObjectInputStream(in)) {
+            final Object object = ois.readObject();
+            assertTrue(object instanceof CSVRecord);
+            final CSVRecord rec = (CSVRecord) object;
+            assertEquals(1L, rec.getRecordNumber());
+            assertEquals("One", rec.get(0));
+            assertEquals("Two", rec.get(1));
+            assertEquals(2, rec.size());
+            assertEquals(shortRec.getCharacterPosition(), rec.getCharacterPosition());
+            assertEquals("my comment", rec.getComment());
+            // The parser is not serialized
+            assertNull(rec.getParser());
+            // Check all header map functionality is absent
+            assertTrue(rec.isConsistent());
+            assertFalse(rec.isMapped("A"));
+            assertFalse(rec.isSet("A"));
+            assertEquals(0, rec.toMap().size());
+            // This will throw
+            try {
+                rec.get("A");
+                org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.fail("Access by name is not expected after deserialisation");
+            } catch (IllegalStateException expected) {
+                // OK
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Test deserialisation of a record created using version 1.6.
+     *
+     * @throws IOException Signals that an I/O exception has occurred.
+     */
+    @Test
+    public void testDeserialisation() throws IOException {
+        CSVRecord shortRec;
+        try (final CSVParser parser = CSVParser.parse("A,B\n#my comment\nOne,Two", CSVFormat.DEFAULT.withHeader().withCommentMarker('#'))) {
+            shortRec = parser.iterator().next();
+        }
+        try (FileOutputStream out = new FileOutputStream("/tmp/csvRecord.ser");
+            ObjectOutputStream oos = new ObjectOutputStream(out)) {
+            oos.writeObject(shortRec);
+        }
     }
 
     @Test