Serialize Conditional Property

public class Employee
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public Employee Manager { get; set; }

    public bool ShouldSerializeManager()
    {
        // don't serialize the Manager property if an employee is their own manager
        return (Manager != this);
    }
}

Employee joe = new Employee();
joe.Name = "Joe Employee";
Employee mike = new Employee();
mike.Name = "Mike Manager";

joe.Manager = mike;

// mike is his own manager
// ShouldSerialize will skip this property
mike.Manager = mike;

string json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(new[] { joe, mike }, Formatting.Indented);

Console.WriteLine(json);
// [
//   {
//     "Name": "Joe Employee",
//     "Manager": {
//       "Name": "Mike Manager"
//     }
//   },
//   {
//     "Name": "Mike Manager"
//   }
// ]