Observers knowledgeable about Mormon fundamentalist splinter groups are wondering whether Warren Jeffs' formal resignation as president of an FLDS corporation on Wednesday is simply a legal ploy that severs his financial ties to the church but allows him to remain its covert spiritual leader.

John Hamer, author of a new book, "Scattering of the Saints: Schism Within Mormonism," said news of Jeffs' resignation could mean different things to his followers than it does to outside observers who assume he has simply disassociated himself from any oversight of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

He said language saying Jeffs had resigned as "president of the priesthood council" does not appear in the statement released by Jeffs' attorneys on Wednesday. That designation is tantamount to being the spiritual leader of the church, he said, and Jeffs has not written his resignation from the faith's priesthood.

"The pattern of FLDS members ... would be a senior member of the council with a title like 'president of the high priesthood"' would be considered the spiritual leader of the church, he said. Members of the FLDS Church long considered themselves part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in name but rejected the church's leadership as "out of order" and instituted their own presiding council regarding doctrinal matters, Hamer said.

More recently, FLDS leaders rejected the LDS Church altogether and formed their own corporation as a church and a temple, signaling a change in theology that established an entirely new church, he said.

"The questions (for FLDS members) are: Did he resign as president of the priesthood council? Will there be a new prophet? Did he designate a successor? That type of thing," Hamer said.

"If he is going to say he's holding on to presidency of the priesthood, that tells (FLDS) people it's just a legal maneuver to disassociate himself with the corporation in order to combat the persecutors of the church — the government. I think he would still be able to rally a core of people to continue to have his claim (as prophet or spiritual leader), especially if he is able to get some kind of loyalist in as the new president of the corporation — someone who doesn't actually challenge him."

Hamer said Jeffs "may still be retaining the presidency of the priesthood and role as prophet of the church. It's also possible he's picked a successor and is actually passing it on to someone else. I can't confirm that, but either one of those is possible."

He said that at this point, there is no obvious successor, because Jeffs appears to have dispatched all potential rivals.

If Jeffs is truly stepping down as the faith's spiritual leader, "this is fairly unique and very uncommon in the whole LDS movement," he said, noting among the variety of different churches that have splintered from the faith established by Joseph Smith in 1830, none make provision for resignation.