---
title: O.C.G.A. § 11-3-115. Incomplete instrument.
collection: code
id: 11-3-115
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 11-3-115 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/11-3-115
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/11-3-115.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/11-3-115/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t11-(v9)-2022-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=b5451bbd_0#page=358
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
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publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
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version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: COMMERCIAL CODE / NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENTS / GENERAL PROVISIONS AND DEFINITIONS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 11-3-115. Incomplete instrument.

(a) “Incomplete instrument” means a signed writing, whether or not issued by the signer, the contents of which show at the time of signing that it is incomplete but that the signer intended it to be completed by the addition of words or numbers.

(b) Subject to subsection (c) of this Code section, if an incomplete instrument is an instrument under Code Section 11-3-104, it may be enforced according to its terms if it is not completed, or according to its terms as augmented by completion. If an incomplete instrument is not an instrument under Code Section 11-3-104, but, after completion, the requirements of Code Section 11-3-104 are met, the instrument may be enforced according to its terms as augmented by completion.

(c) If words or numbers are added to an incomplete instrument without authority of the signer, there is an alteration of the incomplete instrument under Code Section 11-3-407.

(d) The burden of establishing that words or numbers were added to an incomplete instrument without authority of the signer is on the person asserting the lack of authority.

## History

Code 1981, § 11-3-115, enacted by Ga. L. 1996, p. 1306, § 3.

## Law Reviews

For article discussing parol evidence in the law of commercial paper, see 13 Ga. L. Rev. 53 (1978).