Photo: The Canadian Press

A court hearing related to money raised following the Humboldt Broncos bus crash will be the first real test of Saskatchewan's efforts to regulate crowdfunding campaigns, says a lawyer for the fund.

The Humboldt Broncos Memorial Fund Inc. is to ask Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench on Wednesday for an initial order that would declare a GoFundMe campaign a public appeal, authorize the money to be held in trust and approve an interim payment of $50,000 each to the 13 survivors and the families of the 16 people who died after the April 6 crash.

The GoFundMe campaign raised $15.2 million in donations from all over the world.

The money has yet to be distributed because Saskatchewan has legislation known as the Informal Public Appeals Act, which outlines court-supervised payouts.

"This is a new law that was enacted in Saskatchewan in 2015," said Jeff Lee, a lawyer who represents the Humboldt Broncos Memorial Fund Inc.

The legislation was recommended in 2012 by a national body called the Uniform Law Conference, which proposes changes when gaps are identified in existing laws.

"Saskatchewan was the only province that stepped up and actually enacted that statute into law and this would be the first occasion in which it's been considered in court," said Lee.

Under the law, a court hearing can be requested by a trustee, a donor, a person who benefits from a fund, the attorney general or anyone the court considers has a sufficient interest in a fund. In the Broncos case, a hearing was requested by the Humboldt Broncos Memorial Fund Inc.

Some have expressed concerns that the courts could take too long, but Lee said that's why there will be a request for an interim payment.

He and other legal experts said the law is meant to improve the overall process and deal with any disputes that could tie money up for years.

Peter Lown, chair of the committee on program development and management with the Uniform Law Conference, said the law was initially recommended because of an increasing number of public fundraisers.

"Everybody says, that's terrible, that's the most awful thing that's happened — I should help out with that," he said. "So what does that mean? How are they going to be helped? Is there a differential for survivors and non-survivors or families? What can it be used for? How much of it can be used?

"Somebody has to take responsibility for doing all of that. Otherwise it's just total chaos."