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.
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.