Apostolic succession in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) is the process of transition to a new church president when the preceding one has died.
Summary
Established protocol
At the head of the LDS Church are fifteen men: three of them, the church president and his two counselors, form the church's highest council, the First Presidency. In addition, a council serving the church in a role secondary to that of the First Presidency is the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
At the death of a church president, the First Presidency automatically dissolves. At this point, the presidency's counselors, if they had been drawn from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, return to their place of seniority within the Twelve, and the church enters an apostolic interregnum wherein the Quorum of the Twelve serves as the governing council for the church, under the direction of the quorum's president. The quorum president – invariably the quorum member with longest tenure – possesses the authority to receive revelation to reorganize the First Presidency. If and when he does so, he counsels together with the Twelve on this matter. According to the pattern established when Spencer W. Kimball became the church president in the early 1970s, the Twelve meet to discuss the issue of reorganization on the Sunday following the funeral services held for the previous church president. If the Quorum is unanimous, they proceed to set apart, by the laying on of hands by all the apostles, the new president, as well as the two counselors he has chosen, in order to form the new First Presidency. These counselors may be chosen from any holder of the Melchizedek priesthood. In most cases they are chosen from among the members of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles. To fill the vacancy arising in the Quorum of the Twelve when its president becomes the church president, or from quorum members leaving the quorum to serve as counselors in the First Presidency, the newly formed First Presidency meet and counsel together in order to recommend Melchizedek Priesthood holders to be called to fill the vacancy, or vacancies. Members of the Quorum of the Twelve can also make recommendations for consideration. The final decision rests with the church president. It is formally voted on, or sustained, by the Twelve and the counselors in the First Presidency.
This, and other church policy decisions, are made unanimously, with consultation among the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve, and where appropriate, the Seventy, each of which has its own responsibility. Efforts are made to ensure the organizations are united in purpose and policy.
The man chosen is generally ordained an apostle by the President of the Church, a counselor in the First Presidency, or the President of the Twelve.
At the next semi-annual general conference, the membership of the church has the opportunity of sustaining their new leader by common consent, at a special conference session referred to as a "solemn assembly."
Life tenure
Each of the 15 men serving as apostles have life tenure, which may lead to an older or infirm church president, but also provides considerable training of apostles to take over the office of president.
Apostolic interregnums
Following the death of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young presided over the church for three years as the President of the Twelve before the First Presidency was reconstituted. The tradition of waiting for two to three years before selecting a new president continued until the 1898 death of the fourth church president, Wilford Woodruff. Since then, the surviving apostles have typically met in the Salt Lake Temple on the Sunday following the late president's funeral, to select and set apart the next church president.
Ideal of unanimity
Russell M. Nelson: "In our meetings, the majority never rules! We listen prayerfully to one another and talk with each other until we are united. Then when we have reached complete accord, the unifying influence of the Holy Ghost is spine-tingling! We experience what the Prophet Joseph Smith knew when he taught, 'By union of feeling we obtain power with God.'"