Due to a precedent established after the succession crisis which occurred after the death of Joseph Smith, the senior apostle, the President of the Quorum of the Twelve, becomes the new President of the Church upon the death of his predecessor. On these occasions, it is at the next church general conference that the president of the Quorum of the Twelve is formally sustained by the members of the church as the "prophet, seer, and revelator" and president of the church. The next most senior apostle becomes president of the Quorum of the Twelve.