Breakaway South Carolina diocese can keep $500 million of church property, judge says

A conservative breakaway Anglican diocese in the US has won a court battle to keep more than $500 million worth of church property.

The Episcopal Church (TEC) has no claim on the property of the Diocese of South Carolina or its churches, according to Circuit Court Judge Diane Goodstein.

She wrote in her decision this week that the conservative diocese and its parishes are "the owners of their real, personal and intellectual property" and that the national church has no legal interest in the properties. Keep reading

I doubt seriously that this ruling is going to discourage TEC from further pursing legal action against the Diocese of South Carolina. TEC's attorneys have a vested interest in taking the case through various court systems as far as it will go. They are not working pro bono.  It would be interesting to see the results of a study of how the attorneys that TEC is retaining are profiting from all this litigation. I tend to avoid posting this type of story, choosing to wait and see what happens at the very last appeal hearing. What has the appearance of being a victory may simply turn out to be  holding action.