After years of legal wrangling, Lise Thibault, 75, has pleaded guilty to fraud-related charges, as her trial resumed in Quebec City Monday.

Thibault, who served as lieutenant-governor of Quebec from 1997 to 2007, was accused of spending beyond the limits of her expense account and breach of trust.

Her trial on charges of defrauding $700,000 from the provincial and federal governments began in April.

Thibault failed to appear for her cross-examination in court on August 1, as her lawyer claimed that she had suffered an epileptic seizure caused by stress.

The charges were laid after a joint report filed by former provincial auditor general Renaud Lachance and his federal counterpart at the time, Sheila Fraser.

Her lawyer had unsuccessfully pleaded for that she should receive sovereign immunity because she was the Queen's representative in Quebec.

The provincial government has also filed a lawsuit against her in an effort to recover $92,000 of lost funds but the date for that civil suit has not yet been set.

Quebec court Judge Carol St-Cyr will hear sentencing arguments as well as the results of negotiations on a reimbursement plan next May 1.

Thibault left the courthouse on Monday without responding to reporters' questions.

Her lawyer, Marc Labelle, said the former lieutenant-governor came to a new understanding of the evidence and the law.

“If you think you didn't commit a crime, but then you see through the interventions in court, you see how things are presented, the questions from your own lawyer, at a certain point you are able to say that, maybe there are things I did that were not acceptable, legally speaking,” he explained to reporters.

Labelle said his client acknowledged she unjustly claimed an amount of $310,000, while the Crown estimates the amount at $430,000.

"We will discuss... to see if we can meet somewhere between $310,000 and $430,000 and we will then make a representation to the court," he said.

But Labelle would not say if his client had the financial means to make the reimbursement.

During her testimony, Thibault said she had little to show financially for her time as vice-regal -- a divorce ate into her savings and she now lives on a $30,000 pension.

Her lawyer also did not indicate Monday what sentence he wanted to negotiate with the Crown in order to avoid Thibault being imprisoned.

"We will discuss that with the judge," he said. "I don't want to start talking about a sentence in the corridor.

"Regardless of what I think about jurisprudence, it's Judge St-Cyr who will have the last word."

Last summer, St-Cyr ruled against a pair of motions filed by Labelle, who argued the case should be dismissed because the accused benefited from royal immunity.

He contended that meant she was not a civil servant and therefore could not face criminal charges.

The judge wrote that, according to constitutional law, the lieutenant-governor does not enjoy the same benefits as the Queen.

St-Cyr also noted that under the Constitution, the lieutenant-governor is a civil servant, adding such an affirmation is even posted on the lieutenant-governor's website.

-With a file from Alexandre Robillard of The Canadian Press