Here's another comment from a member of this group regarding the
question of whether to hold Panama realty in the taxpayer's name or
through an entity like a corporation. (Vern)

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The writer is correct. Panama does not adhere to the priciple of
Joint Tenancy by the Entireties. The joint owner must probate
the spouses share and the writer is correct that the legal fees could
be as high as 30%.

I have several clients in Panama and that is the main reason why
the local citizens hold their Real Property in corporate name and
stock in bearer shares. They also pay the minimum $300/yr for
corporate taxes.

I advise US citizens to also calculate what the tax would be if they
should sell the property prior to death(actually the shares of stock)
and pay the capital gains tax and ordinary income rate should it not
go into probate, and compare that to the US tax which would be zero
if that house were a personal residence held in personal name.

RESPONSE: The tax problem of owning a residence in a corporation can
be avoided if the owners of the corporation make a timely election
with Form 8832 to treat the corporation as a disregarded entity. On a
related topic, I'm presently trying to help a number of people who
have established corporations in Belize or Costa Rica to own personal
assets such as a residence, an automobile or various investments.
These people didn't know about the crazy rules that apply to
controlled foreign corporations or about the option to treat the
corporation as a disregarded entity for U.S. tax purposes. (Vern)

See http://www.offshorepress.com/cfc-ibc-tax.htm