Can my lawyer release closing funds before my mortgage money has actually arrived from the bank?

Ontario lawyers hold client and lender money in a trust account, and their professional obligations mean they generally should not release funds toward your purchase until the money has actually been received and cleared into that trust account. Sending money out before it has genuinely landed exposes the lawyer, and both parties to the transaction, to the risk that the expected funds never arrive or bounce.

This is why your lawyer will typically wait for confirmation that mortgage funds are actually in trust before releasing anything to the seller's side or registering the transfer. If your mortgage funds are late, your lawyer may need to delay disbursing or registering until the money is confirmed, which can put your closing at risk of running late even though it is not really your fault. Rather than treating this as flexible, most lawyers build extra time into closing-day logistics precisely because early or unconfirmed release of funds is one of the more serious ways a real estate closing can go wrong. If you are concerned about timing, ask your lawyer's office directly what confirmation they require and when they expect funds in hand.