Income generated by trust accounts
Through a new law passed on Thursday, the Legault government now imposes limits on the Chamber of Notaries and the Quebec Bar. The use of interest income generated by the trust amounts entrusted to them will now be more regulated.
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Part of these sums will thus escape these two professional orders and will be used to finance legal aid – which will represent several tens of millions of dollars annually.
Since 2022, The Press writes about the exponential windfall that trust funds bring to the Chambre des notaires and, to a lesser extent, to the Quebec Bar. And in December 2025, the notarial studies fund (of the Chambre des notaires) had 311 million in its coffers and the legal studies fund (of the Barreau du Québec), 122 million.
With these sums, the two professional orders have until now decided which organizations, what sums and what part of their funds they distributed to different organizations of their choice.
Under the new law, the two professional orders will be able to continue to dispose of the amounts already raised as they see fit. But now, 50% of the first $75 million in interest income generated by the trust accounts, and then 75% of the income above that threshold, will come out of their coffers and be used to fund legal aid.
Over the years, the notary education fund has been used for a variety of purposes. It was used to pay sums to various justice-related organizations. But he also contributed to the purchase of part of a building in downtown Montreal. Twice – 15 million each time – the Notarial Studies Fund was also used to replenish the operating deficit of the Chamber of Notaries.
Concerned since 2023, the Quebec government demanded in 2025 that a support person be appointed for the Chambre des notaires. In question, according to the office of Minister Sonia LeBel: problems observed with regard to “financial management” and “governance” and a lack of transparency linked to the Notarial Studies Fund. The Chamber of Notaries then expressed its surprise, deploring, in 2025, that it had still not received any feedback on the report requested on it in 2023.
Reacting to the law passed on Thursday, Me Bruno Larivière, president of the Chambre des notaires, declared that “access to justice is at the heart of the mission of the Chambre des notaires. Our desire has always been to be able to substantially increase our social contribution; what this bill does. »
“An anomaly” compared to other provinces
Me Marcel-Olivier Nadeau, President of Quebec.
However, he insists that the Quebec Bar has always used the funds wisely, notably creating Éducaloi, the Juripop clinic and the traveling legal clinic.
While welcoming the new law, the Quebec Bar demands that it and the Chambre des notaires be able to appoint members to the Legal Services Commission (commonly called legal aid), as is the case in the other provinces.
For President Nadeau, it is a “simple question of consistency”.
When we finance something “so significantly [l’aide juridique]I think it’s important that this is reflected in governance,” he says.
In fact, we submit, the funding is not generated by the Quebec Bar, but by citizens, who place the sums in trust.
Me Nadeau responds that the legal studies fund has certainly benefited in recent years from the upturn in the markets, but that recognizing this, “the Bar did not let the sums accumulate. When we saw that they were accumulating, we quickly assigned them to access to justice projects.”
From now on, for at least half of the interest on trust funds, it will no longer be up to the Bar or the Chamber of Notaries to ensure the pace of disbursement and the projects to be financed.
