Uncle Doug Posted February 25, 2016 Posted February 25, 2016 I'm finally selling my house in the USA and I'm not going back there for closing. The title company would prefer that my wife and I sign the deed at the US Consulate for the notarization. I'd prefer not to do so for all the obvious reasons. The title company tells me that they would accept a Panamanian notary if it is also apostilled. Does that even make sense? Who would apostille a notarization? (The title company doesn't have a clue.) I think I have researched the archives at Ning about the subject to death. Most of the advice falls into a few categories: 1) Get your document notarized at the Municipio across from Romero's -- that works fine. 2) Locate the notary in David for real estate transfers in the US. That is required. 3) Make the trip to Panama City, you lazy cheap numskull. 4) Find a notary, but get the document apostilled, too I guess #5 would be to have the visiting consulate do this in David, but who knows when that will be.... I need to do this in the next couple of weeks. I fully understand that the issue is REALLY, "what will the County Clerk in the US require before accepting the deed for recording?", but it's more than that. I have to satisfy the title company first, and they want an apostille. Has anyone here gotten a notarization apostilled? And, by the way, is the fact that the acknowledgement is written in English a problem for Panamanian notaries? Quote
Penny Posted February 25, 2016 Posted February 25, 2016 An apolstile just verifies that fact that the notary is a legitimate notary. If you get notarized by a Panamanian notary (either a cheap one at the Municipio or an expensive one in David), the country of Panama still has to verifiy that the notary is legitimate. It's just really easier to go to the U.S. embassy in Panama City. Quote
Keith Woolford Posted February 25, 2016 Posted February 25, 2016 (edited) The Panamanian Notary is simply witnessing or authenticating your signature on the document, Doug. A notarized document may then be apostilled by the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores in Tumba Muerto. Edited February 25, 2016 by Keith Woolford Quote
Uncle Doug Posted February 25, 2016 Author Posted February 25, 2016 1 hour ago, Keith Woolford said: The Panamanian Notary is simply witnessing or authenticating your signature on the document, Doug. A notarized document may then be apostilled by the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores in Tumba Muerto. Well, that hardly helps! The only Tumba Meurto I can find is a neighborhood in Panama City (which is where I'd expect all Ministries to be, anyhow...) It would be easier to skip a step and make the trek to the American Consulate. At least it's only one appointment. Ugh. That is really bizarre. The hardest part of the process is somehow proving that the Panamanian notary is a notary, not that it was me who signed the document... Okay, the next step is to try to sweet talk the County Clerk into saying she doesn't need an apostille. Quote
Keith Woolford Posted February 26, 2016 Posted February 26, 2016 An apostille is a seal of authentication agreed to by international convention. It works coming the other way when you have documents from the U.S. apostilled there to prove their authenticity before bringing them here for residency applications, etc. Quote
TwoSailors Posted February 26, 2016 Posted February 26, 2016 Doug, Don't know what state you are in.... but we did that on line with no problem with the sale of our house in California. Your Real Estate agent should be helping you with this. In this day with electronic signatures online it should not be that difficult. Quote
Hil Posted February 26, 2016 Posted February 26, 2016 (edited) I used a Panamanian Notary for a government agency in Florida. The agency did NOT require an apostle. David has a professional Notary office not far from the Chiriqui Hospital. That is all they do. As a matter of fact the notary was a lawyer. $7 Edited February 26, 2016 by Hil Quote
Uncle Doug Posted March 2, 2016 Author Posted March 2, 2016 To bring a little closure to the question, I decided to contact the County Clerk in Pennsylvania directly. In my former life up there, I had a lot of interaction with the clerks in various counties in the region. While state law governs (and each state can set their own requirements), the sad fact in many counties is that the County Clerk runs his or her own little fiefdom, and if they don't want to accept a document for recording for any reason, too bad. They will return it to you until you prepare it to their satisfaction. In my case, it is going either obtain the consulate notarization or get a local notary but have it apostilled in Panama City. Only those two choices. There is no visit from the Consulate scheduled for David at this time. So, I must travel with my wife to PC. The Consulate doesn't notarize after 9:45 in the morning, so arriving on the 9 am flight into Albrook probably doesn't allow time to get the deed notarized the same day. I would think that US Government employees might work a whole morning each day, but apparently not. Since they charge $50 per acknowledgment, you'd think they could afford to be open all day. Quote
Keith Woolford Posted March 2, 2016 Posted March 2, 2016 In that case Doug, I would recommend the other option of having a local notary witness your signatures. The apostille process at the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores in Panama City does not require your presence and could be handled by a third party. Quote
Brundageba Posted March 2, 2016 Posted March 2, 2016 3 hours ago, Uncle Doug said: To bring a little closure to the question, I decided to contact the County Clerk in Pennsylvania directly. In my former life up there, I had a lot of interaction with the clerks in various counties in the region. While state law governs (and each state can set their own requirements), the sad fact in many counties is that the County Clerk runs his or her own little fiefdom, and if they don't want to accept a document for recording for any reason, too bad. They will return it to you until you prepare it to their satisfaction. In my case, it is going either obtain the consulate notarization or get a local notary but have it apostilled in Panama City. Only those two choices. There is no visit from the Consulate scheduled for David at this time. So, I must travel with my wife to PC. The Consulate doesn't notarize after 9:45 in the morning, so arriving on the 9 am flight into Albrook probably doesn't allow time to get the deed notarized the same day. I would think that US Government employees might work a whole morning each day, but apparently not. Since they charge $50 per acknowledgment, you'd think they could afford to be open all day. My husband and I have gone to PC on the midnight bus, done the paper thing with the powers that be there and have returned back on the bus to arrive in Boquete just after dark .Cheap, fast exhausting but done.. Quote
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