Isn't this completely opposite of a recent ruling following the Anglican Church where breakaway churchs were declared the owners of the property-NOT the national.
No and I speak from first-hand knowledge and can convey some interesting anecdotes regarding this. The Episcopal polity is similar to the Roman Catholic: each individual parish is incorporated into a diocese which is the basic ecclesiastical entity. Only denominations such as Congregationalists, Baptist, etc., are so structured that individual churches (parishes) have a high degree of autonomy. Parishes and missions (with very few exceptions) in ECUSA are an integral part-and-parcel part of a diocese and are legally so incorporated.