Rule 5.9 - Standard forms(A) A form, including any instructions, shall be considered adopted when it has been approved by a majority of a quorum of probate judges present at a meeting of the Council of Probate Court Judges of Georgia. The forms committee members may approve changes to forms and instructions. (B) The effective date of any such standard form shall be immediately following the date approved by the Supreme Court. Each newly-adopted form will either be published in full in an issue of such Advance Sheets or be available in each probate court of this state, at least one month prior to its effective date. Dissemination to each probate court may be accomplished electronically. A paper copy may be sent to any probate court upon request. (C) These rules shall be construed to allow and facilitate the use of technology in electronic document preparation. No standard forms or these rules shall require the filing party to mark or identify any changes in such forms unless they are material. Changes in such forms which are grammatical, changes in gender, changes in singular and plural, omission of optional or alternative language and the inclusion of variable information such as names and addresses shall not be deemed material; however, the format and sequence of the forms shall be preserved as far as practical.(D) Each court will have a supply of printed copies of adopted standard forms. Each standard form will have a title and will contain numbered paragraphs. When an available standard form is not used for a probate court procedure, then the content of the substituted pleading or other document must conform to the standard form, indicating all material information added to or deleted from the standard form. Each material addition must be underlined, placed in bold or all capital letters, or otherwise clearly indicated, and material deletions must be shown with a single strike through or otherwise clearly indicated. At the end of any such document, the attorney must sign the following statement: ``I certify that the content of the foregoing is identical in all material respects with Georgia probate court standard form entitled, _____________________, except for additions or deletions indicated as required by the Uniform Probate Court Rules.'' For purposes of this paragraph, instructions shall not be deemed to be a part of any standard form. (E) With respect to any procedure for which a standard form has been adopted, the court may, in its discretion, process or decline to process any document not on an available standard form and which does not contain the certificate described above. (F) Any document prepared in accordance with this rule and any other applicable rules shall be acceptable in any probate court in this state. (G) For the purposes of this rule, any change or modification of a standard form which changes only the format in which dates are set forth shall not be considered to be the adoption of a new form, and any existing standard form may be modified or amended solely for the purpose of changing the format in which dates are set forth without affecting the effective date or otherwise changing the standard form. In the event such changes are made to a standard form, newly printed or created forms may be distributed to and by probate courts in lieu of older forms without such changes; however, older versions of standard forms not containing such changes shall be acceptable for filing in all probate courts until existing supplies are depleted. Any change or modification of a standard form which changes only the format in which dates are set forth shall not be considered to be a substituted document such as to require the certificate required under paragraph (D) of this rule. (H) Minor changes in spelling, grammar, syntax, or punctuation which does not effect a procedural or substantive change to a form may be made by the standing Forms and Rules Committee of the Council of Probate Court Judges of Georgia and may be submitted to the Supreme Court for approval without action by a quorum of the full council.