Check Before You Draft: There May Already be a GAR Form For That
Special circumstances come up when the Agreement is being written and again when the parties negotiate during Due Diligence. Maybe the buyer wants the seller to leave the above-ground pool—or wants to make absolutely sure it is gone before closing. Maybe a storage container must be removed, outdoor furniture must remain, or the seller has agreed to complete some unusual work or provide a credit.
GAR has an exhibit or special stipulation for many situations. Sometimes it does not. When it does not, it can seem easy enough to type a sentence into the blank space and get the deal done. But even if the request is simple and everyone agrees, writing that sentence is may well be the unauthorized practice of law.
Completing a GAR form and writing your own contract language are two different acts under Georgia law.
Those special circumstances can have real consequences for the buyer or seller or both. Under the Agreement's own rules for resolving conflicts, C.4.p.(6), if a broker writes a special stipulation, the party it was written for is treated as though they wrote it themselves, and that party indemnifies the broker who drafted it. But do not use that as a loophole for freehanding language. Whatever you write becomes the client's problem to live with, and if it's vague, unenforceable, or not what they meant, the protection may not protect you legally and will certainly not protect your relationship with your client. They trusted you to get it right.
The Legal Line
OCGA § 15-19-50 defines the practice of law, which includes drafting documents affecting legal rights. Real estate contract protect the rights of the buyers and seller. OCGA § 43-40-25.1 carves out a specific exception: a real estate licensee may complete pre-printed, standardized real estate forms, as long as those forms were prepared by a licensed Georgia attorney. The exception is narrow on purpose. It covers completing a form, not writing one.
“Completing” vs. “Drafting”
Completing means filling in blanks, checking boxes, or selecting from options a licensed attorney already wrote into the form. GAR forms and special stips asks you to insert a date, a dollar amount, a party's name, and factual circumstance. The legalese is already written.
Drafting means writing new, original Agreement language: a sentence you composed to cover a situation the standard forms did not. That is true even if the sentence is short, even if it sounds like something you have written a dozen times before, and even if the client is asking you to do it. Covering all of the necessary bases is rarely as simple as agents would wish but three years of law school and years of legal practice inform all of the things an attorney would adjust or add.
This isn't confined to the section labeled “Special Stipulations.” The same rule reaches any blank space in the transaction where original words could go, like the Amendment to Address Concerns or the blank Amendment to Agreement.
Agents will also turn something into a stip that never needed to be one. Time zone for a deadline, “good and workmanlike condition,” "clear title" (wrong term and actually overrides the better language already in the contract), inspection and walk-through rights, warranty transfer, smart device access: these are already addressed in the Agreement itself. Writing a new stip to cover something the Agreement already covers isn't just wasted effort, it can create two provisions that say slightly different things about the same issue. Check whether the Agreement already handles it before you assume it needs its own stip.
Where to Look Before You Draft
Before you type anything into an Agreement, or into an Amendment to Address Concerns, that isn't already printed on a GAR form, check these, in order.
The GAR Exhibit library. Exhibits cover entire categories: second mortgages, seller financing, loan assumptions, earnest money paid to seller, survey resolution, and more. Check it before you decide nothing covers your situation. Something usually does.
The GAR Special Stipulations library. Narrower than the Exhibits, and more often than agents expect, the exact scenario they think needs custom language already has a numbered stip written for it.
SmartStips.com. A search tool built around exactly this question, tagline and all: “Check Before You Draft.” It has a searchable 2026 GAR Forms index, so a keyword search can turn up whether an Exhibit or Special Stip already covers the situation without knowing a form number going in, plus the SMARTstips Library, a separate collection of pre-written, Georgia-ready stipulations organized by category (contingencies, financing, closing dates, HOA and short-term rental, offers and competition, possession) that can be expanded, reviewed, and copied directly into an Agreement. Treat it as a reference and drafting-avoidance tool, not affiliated with or endorsed by GAR.
Your broker. If none of that covers it, ask what the office's own approved language is, and ask where it came from (see the FAQ below for why that second question matters).
An attorney. This is the answer once nothing pre-written covers it and the broker doesn't have language either. Remember though that the closing attorney for your deal is not really in the position to write your contract for you because their client representation causes a conflict. Many do have their own store of general stips they provide for educational purposes and may fit what you need.
The Anatomy of a Stip
In the coming weeks, I will take each basic stip framework and break it down the way that I am doing in this month's class.
Protecting Buyer Needs
Protecting Seller Needs
Options for Contingency Request
Avoiding Stips that are Too Subjective
FAQs
Doesn't the Agreement already protect me if I write a stip?
Under C.4.p.(6), the broker who prepared it is held harmless, but the party it was written for still adopts it as their own. That protects you, not your client. Treat it as a reason to be more careful, not an excuse to draft freely: whatever you write becomes binding on the person who trusted you and will hold you responsible.
Does this apply even to short, simple additions?
Yes. Attorneys write longer stips for a reason . . .
What if my broker or team has “standard language” we always use for a situation like this?
That language still had to come from an attorney at some point. It doesn't get grandfathered in just because an agent wrote it once and the office kept using it. Ask where it came from before you trust it. And remember that the language may be years old and more recent forms changes and court cases can change whether they are perfect or problematic.
Can I write it if I have an attorney review it?
Yes. That's the best solution when there is nothing prewritten. The agent is the expert on what the parties are trying to accomplish. The attorney can fill in the missing legal language.
Want to search this yourself before your next Agreement? The GAR Forms index and the SMARTstips Library of pre-written Georgia stipulations are both searchable at smartstips.com. Have a contract question you want a read on instead? Reach out at cherylking@realsmartonline.com and I'll keep your name out of it.
⚠️ REALsmart Reminder
Completing a GAR form, whether it's the Agreement or an Amendment to Address Concerns, is something your license allows. Writing new contract language is not, no matter how short the sentence or how good your intentions. When the form doesn't cover it, avoid treating contract negotiation as a creative writing exercise.
If we are holding an in-person class in your office, please try to attend. Yes, you have the change out of your PJs but taking this class in-person is totally worth the effort!
Other information about classes can be found on the smartstips.com website.
Stay Smart,
Cheryl Conner King
Founder & Instructor
REALsmart Real Estate School
Attorney | REALTOR® | CE Instructor
📍 Based in Georgia | Teaching Statewide
Cheryl Conner King | REALsmart
3525 Piedmont Road, Building 8, Suite 200, Atlanta GA 30305
