How to Write a Will for Free

It is important to write a will in order to ensure that your loved ones are taken care of in the event of your passing, or that you do not leave behind unfinished business for which your friends or family may be liable. When preparing a will, you can not only state how you want your assets to be allocated, but you can leave funeral arrangements and other information in your last will and testament. If you want to write your own will, here are the steps.

1. Step 1

   Get free legal forms for writing a will. It is best to get these forms for your state specifically in order to guarantee they will apply. Go to your local courthouse to get the forms to make a will. You can also get free will forms online. Choose a form that fits your specific status. There might be different forms for married couples, singles without children and singles with children. The majority of states require you to be 18 to make a will, although there are some exceptions. A will is subject to probate proceedings, is court supervised and open to the public. A will must be handled through power of attorney, you upon your death.

2. Step 2

   Name the will. The most common name for a will is "Last Will and Testament." Add in address, state, and mental state at the time of writing the will. Make sure each section of your will is numbered and in sequential order to avoid any confusion.

3. Step 3

   Designate executors and beneficiaries for your will. You will need to name people who will be in charge of carrying out the specifics in your will (executor) and those who will benefit from your asset allocation (beneficiaries).

4. Step 4

   Write in the beneficiaries of the estate, but also add in alternate beneficiaries if the first chosen do not survive to claim the monies or assets. Be sure to leave funeral arrangement information and other information that may be pertinent.

5. Step 5

   Create guardians for your children or pets. Guardians have to be over 18 years old in order to be legal. Be sure to set up a trust for your children that will help to support your kids. You will also need to choose a trustee who will distribute the assets to your children. Be sure to choose someone you trust implicitly to act as a trustee.

6. Step 6

   Add a living will into your will if you choose not to be kept alive on child support should the issue arise. Include the statement that you do not want to be kept alive using any artificial means if you do not want to be kept alive on life support.

7. Step 7

   Date and sign the will. Have witnesses as you are writing a will and declare your mental competence to write the will to ensure that the document is legal. The will is only legal if you sign it in front of at least two people. The witnesses must also sign the will. When writing your own will, sign the will in front of a notary and be sure the will is legal. Although this is not always necessary, it is a good step to take to avoid any disputes.

How to Recognize Swine Flu Symptoms in Your Baby or Young Child

The Swine Flu has taken hold here in the United States, and the Swine Flu epidemic is now traveling Worldwide. Children are at the highest risk of mortality if affected with the Swine Flu. Symptoms may be difficult to recognize, but it is crucial that you are aware of signs of the Swine Flu in order to increase the likelihood of a positive outcome if your child is infected with the virus. If your child is unable to speak, it may be hard to recognize symptoms of Swine Flu infection. This flu virus is most dangerous in the weakest of individuals including young children. There are some indicators you can look for to ensure that you recognize Swine Flu symptoms that require emergency care in your baby or young child before it is too late.

1. Step 1

   Flu Symptoms
   If your child has any flu-like symptoms, it may be the Swine flu. The symptoms of this virus are like many others. Monitor their symptoms and look for a high fever over 101 degrees following a cold. Worsening cough is also a sign of Swine Flu. If you are treating your child for flu, and their cough worsens, it is a symptom of the virus.

2. Step 2

   Look for a Rash
   Look for a rash that accompanies the fever. This is an indication of Swine Flu infection. The child may also have a blue color to their skin. This indicates a lack of oxygen and requires immediate emergency care.

3. Step 3

   Stops Drinking
   If your child quits drinking fluids do not hesitate to rush them to the emergency room. Dehydration is a killer for young children. In addition, if they have explosive diarrhea or vomiting you should seek immediate emergency treatment.

4. Step 4

   Breathing Problems
   If they appear to be breathing quickly or having any shortness of breath, get them help quickly. The faster you get emergency help in this situation, the more likely they will suffer no adverse affects.

5. Step 5

   Body Aches
   If they act as if they are in pain when you hold them, or try to wriggle away because they appear uncomfortable, it could indicate severe body pain. Get them to a treatment facility immediately. This is an indication of a Swine Flu virus infection.

6. Step 6

   Flat Affect
   If they are not maintaining eye contact, or appear flat in affectation this is a warning sign of severe viral infection. Get to an emergency facility.

7. Step 7

   Will Not Wake Up
   Finally, if you are unable to wake your child, call an ambulance immediately. Do not hesitate in this situation. Swine Flu is a deadly virus and can be treated with antiviral medications such as Tamiflu so getting your child treated immediately can save your child's life. The Swine Flu epidemic is likely to get worse before it gets better and it is important to be aware of symptoms of the virus that may require emergency care.

Top 10 bizarre requests in luxury hotels

Asking for sheets with holes, to lower down the volume of the sea, or filling the bath-tub with ice-these are just some of the most bizarre guest requests luxury hotels around the world have dealt with.

The Great Hotels of the World, a group of five star hotels and resorts around the globe, released a list of the most extravagant and unusual guest requests they have experienced as part of their 91 Days of Summer campaign, reports The Courier Mail.

And based on the list, news.com.au has compiled a selection of the 10 strangest requests.

The strangest requests are:

1. A bed that's 'too high'

This VIP guest thought his bed at Hotel Puente Romano, also in Spain, was too high so requested that the feet be cut off in order to make it a more comfortable height. Unfortunately for him, hotel staff didn't agree.

2. Holey sheets

A well-known US singer requested that three holes were made in Portugal's Dom Pedro Palace's bed sheets before she slept in them.

3. Desire to bury dogs in the garden

The Swiss Beau-Rivage Palace has an animal cemetery in the hotel gardens dating back to 1861. Some guests visiting the hotel have asked if it's possible to bury their dog in this cemetery when their time comes. The cemetery is no longer used these days so hotel staff had to refuse.

4. The sea is too loud

A very demanding guest found the sound of the sea so irritating he actually asked Spain's Gran Hotel Elba Estepona and Thalasso Spa hotel staff if they could stop it.

5. Milky bath

This Premier Palace, Ukraine, guest requested that his bath be filled with milk, not from any bottles but from glass bottles in particular. After several hours of milk-buying, his request was finally fulfilled.

6. Very specific sun angle

A very demanding guest requested a room where the sun sets at an angle of precisely 45 degrees to the right of the room window at Honeymoon Petra Villas in Greece.

7. Sea-water to go

A distinguished guest asked for a bucket of sea-water to be delivered to his room at the Hotel Splendid Conference and Spa Resort, Montenegro.

8. It's too hot

One guest at Villa Padierna Thermas de Carratraca in Malaga, Spain complained he was so hot, he demanded that the temperature of the room to be lowered to sub-zero temperatures just so he could cool off.

9. Fill the bath up with ice

This Kairaba Beach Hotel, Africa, guest was so desperate to cool down that he requested the bath be filled to the brim with ice.

10. Bungee jumping off the top of the hotel

A lot of people like to visit the top floor of a luxury hotel to take in a breath of fresh air and enjoy the fantastic views. This guest did just that. But unlike most people, this daredevil then flung himself off the top of the Hotel Barcelona Princess attached to nothing but an elastic band.

Why are leases made for 99-year terms?

Why is it that leases frequently are made for 99 years instead of 100, or some other more manageable figure? The idea, obviously, is that the person who takes the lease will be dead by the time it comes up for renewal, but how was this particular number arrived at?

The 99-year lease is apparently a by-product of an old English custom, dating back at least to feudal times. In the Middle Ages, extended leases were made for a period of 1,000 years, but as the Renaissance approached, the figure was reduced to 999 for reasons that today aren't entirely clear.

In Henry IV, Part II, Shakespeare bends a metaphor around the thousand-year lease--"Now I am so hungry, that if I might have a lease of my life for a thousand years, I could stay no longer"--so the practice must have survived into the 17th century. But a contemporary of Shakespeare's, Sir Edward Coke, is already speculating on the origin of the 999-year lease. The thousand-year lease, he thinks, might have at one time been ruled fraudulent by the English courts--a lease that long was really a sale. If such a law existed, the landowners would avoid it by setting a term of 999 years, the loophole hardly being a modern invention. But no record of any such ruling exists.

The 99-year lease was largely an American invention, the hubba-hubba colonists apparently having no patience for the long-term view, and was probably worked out by analogy to the traditional 999 year figure. But not all of the experts agree. John Bouvier, writing in his 1839 Law Dictionary, the first legal reference book published in the United States, offers a different explanation:

"The limit of 99 years would seem to be connected with a somewhat arbitrary estimate of 100 years as the probable estimate of a man's life. Leases for years are in their attributes, evolution, and history, a sort of middle term between estates-for-life and a tenant-at-will. For this reason a period little short of the duration of the life of man was devised so that the lessee might reasonably build or lay out money for the property."

Other speculation ranges from the cabalistic, focusing on 9 as a mystic number, to the hierarchical, 99 years being the approximate period covered by three generations. The hard-nosed approach suggests that the government once levied a higher tax on leases of 100 years or more, but there is no concrete evidence of this.

You are perfectly free--this being the land of the same--to draw up a lease for whatever term you wish, a millenium or twenty minutes. The 99 year figure has certain obvious advantages, being a nice, solid number to satisfy the bankers, but still being wide open for all practical purposes.