diff --git a/lib/couchrest/mixins/properties.rb b/lib/couchrest/mixins/properties.rb
index 5fec51d..171a056 100644
--- a/lib/couchrest/mixins/properties.rb
+++ b/lib/couchrest/mixins/properties.rb
@@ -23,8 +23,8 @@ module CouchRest
         # TODO: cache the default object
         self.class.properties.each do |property|
           key = property.name.to_s
-          # let's make sure we have a default and we can assign the value
-          if !property.default.nil? && (self.respond_to?("#{key}=") || self.key?(key))
+          # let's make sure we have a default
+          if property.default
               if property.default.class == Proc
                 self[key] = property.default.call
               else
diff --git a/spec/couchrest/more/extended_doc_spec.rb b/spec/couchrest/more/extended_doc_spec.rb
index fccd8d9..257614f 100644
--- a/spec/couchrest/more/extended_doc_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/couchrest/more/extended_doc_spec.rb
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ describe "ExtendedDocument" do
     property :preset,       :default => {:right => 10, :top_align => false}
     property :set_by_proc,  :default => Proc.new{Time.now},       :cast_as => 'Time'
     property :tags,         :default => []
-    property :false_default, :default => false
+    property :read_only_with_default, :default => 'generic', :read_only => true
     property :name
     timestamps!
   end
@@ -158,10 +158,10 @@ describe "ExtendedDocument" do
       obj = WithDefaultValues.new(:tags => ['spec'])
       obj.tags.should == ['spec']
     end
-
-    it "should work with a default value of false" do
+    
+    it "should set default value of read-only property" do
       obj = WithDefaultValues.new
-      obj.false_default.should == false
+      obj.read_only_with_default.should == 'generic'
     end
   end