A Christchurch couple who found more than $230,000 in the ceiling will be allowed to keep $40,000 of it.
The couple, whose names are suppressed, found the mystery money sealed in plastic bricks tucked in insulation at their property in 2021.
They reported the $232,440 to the police, who said the money should be forfeited because it was the proceeds of crime, probably from drug dealing.
A hearing took place this month in the High Court at Christchurch.
In a judgment released on Wednesday, Justice Robert Osborne decided the couple could keep $40,000 of the cash, with the rest given to the Crown.
Both parties had reached a proposed settlement in the hearing, suggesting the couple be paid that amount from the cash.
In agreeing to the settlement, Justice Osborne said he had to consider a number of factors, including the strength of the police and couple's arguments, and the aims of the Criminal Proceeds Recovery Act, which is designed to deter crime, eliminate criminals' profit-making, and reduce their ability to expand their activities.
He said the case was "highly unusual", in that the people who found the cash were "wholly innocent citizens" who discovered it and handed it to the police.
There were "strong public policy" reasons for agreeing to the settlement.
Others might be discouraged from reporting similar findings if they weren't able to keep any of the money, he said.
"If this court were to strip from innocent finders of cash such as these interested parties any prospect of some cash recognition for handing the cash to the authorities, dishonesty could be unintentionally promoted."
The police had accepted the couple had done the right thing by telling them about the cash, that they were caused stress by finding it and by the risk the true owner might return for it, and that they incurred the cost of alterations to their home after discovering it in the ceiling.
Justice Osborne said his decision wasn't a finding that people should always be paid 20 percent of found cash when they stumble on it.
He said his responsibility was to determine the settlement had been reached fairly, and was consistent with the purposes of the Criminal Proceeds Recovery Act.
