Notches are commonly used in laminated timber composites, such as Glue-Laminated Timber (Glulam) and Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT), to meet specific architectural or structural requirements. In beams made from solid timber and Glulam, notches are frequently employed at connections or beam supports to reduce the beams’ height. Similarly, in CLT panels, notches are being used to connect different panels in walls or floors. It is known that notched elements experience a significant reduction in their load-bearing capacity due to stress concentrations resulting from abrupt cross-section height reduction and the low rolling shear or tensile strength of timber perpendicular to the grain. Recent experimental data reported in the literature has highlighted the possible role of adhesive materials and presence of gaps between timber boards contributing to the debonding failures of notched members. Nevertheless, no comprehensive study currently exists in the literature to date specifically assessing the effect of such imperfect bonds on the failure behavior of notched CLT members. This study presents the global bending response, load transfer between laminates, and local stress distribution within notched timber composite plates tested in their “minor” strength direction. Composite panels with edge-gluing and non-edged-gluing are considered due to their wide applications in the construction of mass timber buildings. Our research findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the structural performance of CLT and could guide designing the next generation of laminated composites made from renewable sources with enhanced performance in large-scale structural applications.