Section 178 Presumption of ownership

F1An officer of court may, when executing a money attachment, assume that the debtor owns, solely or in common with a third party, any money found in the place where the attachment is executed.

The F2officer of court must, before attaching any money, make enquiries of any person present at the place in which it is found as to the ownership of it (and in particular must enquire as to whether there is any person who owns it in common with the debtor).

The officer of court may not make the assumption mentioned in subsection (1) above where the officer knows or ought to know that the contrary is the case.

The officer of court is not precluded from relying on that assumption by reason only that an assertion has been made that the money is not owned by the debtor.