December is a busy month for real estate in Panama!!  I recently sold a property in Canada, and it required signatures.  Not a big deal, because my lawyer was able to send the paperwork here so that I didn't have to fly home in the middle of a buying spree, but the catch is that the signature had to be witnessed by a notary.

My fist concern in this process was that the documents would be in English, and the Panamanian notaries wouldn't be able to read them.  Secondly, would the Canadian legal system accpept a Spanish notarization.

So, I did what a lot of us would do in this situation, and turned to the Canadian Embassy in Panama.  They should be able to notarize a Canadian document right?  ......NO.

The good news is, when I finally went to the notary in Panama, it was very easy.  I showed the docs, my witness and I signed and stamped our fingerprints on the docs, and the notary signed that she had witnessed the signatures, and affixed her seal.  EASY!!

Cost:  $20 for 4 documents.

Cheers,

PS  There are Notary Offices all over the city of Panama, some WAY more busy than others.  I went to one called Guillermo Collad Ordonez, across the street of Via Brasil from IDAAN.  It was very quiet, took about 5 minutes, no line.