is class variable in a ScriptableObject automaticly Instantiated?

while I created an Instance of ScriptableObject with a class variable in it, in the inspector it shows the class variable as default instance of the class, do I still need to add a null checker before getting data from it?

153204-capture33.png

[CreateAssetMenu(menuName = "VariableContainer/TimeContainer")]
public class TimeContainer : VariableContainer<TimeFormat>
{
    public Action<TimeContainer> OnValueChanged = delegate { };

    public override TimeFormat Value
    {
        set { this.value = value; OnValueChanged.Invoke(this); }
        get { return value; }
    }

    public void Reset()
    {
        Value.Reset();
    }
}

if it gets serialize, you dont need to, similar to how when you mark a list public like

public List<string> example;//gets serialize in inspector

you dont need to initialize it

public List<string> example = new List<string>();