Merline & Meacham, P.A.

Roots in Greenville and a statewide reach

Tax, estate, and business matters define the firm's stated focus. Merline & Meacham, P.A. dates its Greenville founding to 1970. Its long operating history gives prospective clients a clear reference point when reviewing the firm.

The firm added a second location in the Columbia area in 2008. Its website now identifies offices in Greenville and Cayce. The firm says it serves clients throughout South Carolina.

Those locations place the firm near two of the state's main business and government centers. That geographic reach can matter in tax, probate, and corporate matters that involve state agencies, local courts, business owners, or families in different counties. The website presents both offices as parts of one firm with the same stated areas of concentration.

Where the legal work connects

A closely held company can face tax, ownership, and estate questions in the same transaction. Merline & Meacham concentrates on tax law, estate planning, trusts and estates, and corporate and business transactional law. These fields often meet when owners form a company, transfer an interest, plan succession, sell assets, or arrange the future control of family property.

The published service list gives useful detail within those broad categories. It includes tax planning, compliance, tax dispute resolution, wills, trusts, probate, estate administration, charitable planning, wealth transfer, entity formation, business operations, transactions, succession planning, mergers and acquisitions, employee benefits, and nonprofit matters. The range shows that the firm handles planning work as well as legal matters tied to an active transaction or dispute.

Planning across connected issues

Tax consequences often depend on choices made in estate documents or business agreements. The type of entity, the terms of a transfer, and the identity of a beneficiary can each affect the legal analysis. A firm that works in all of these named fields can examine related questions within the same stated service structure.

That connection is especially relevant for owners whose personal wealth includes a business interest. Succession terms may involve corporate records, valuation questions, transfer restrictions, estate documents, and tax filings. The website identifies work in each of those areas, though the exact scope of any engagement depends on the client's facts.

Tax planning, compliance and disputes

The website identifies tax services for individuals and businesses. The work includes planning, compliance, and dispute resolution. That wording covers preventive advice, filing obligations, and conflicts that arise after a taxing authority reviews a return or position.

Tax planning usually begins with the proposed event and the documents behind it. A lawyer may need to examine an entity's governing papers, prior returns, purchase terms, trust documents, or records of an intended transfer. Timing also matters because elections, reporting duties, and response dates can control the available choices.

Compliance work concerns the legal duties attached to a transaction, entity, estate, trust, or individual return. It can require coordination between legal documents and tax filings. Clear records are central because a taxing authority may compare a reported position with contracts, financial records, ownership documents, or earlier submissions.

How tax disputes usually proceed

A tax dispute often starts with a notice, examination request, proposed adjustment, or demand for records. The taxpayer and counsel review the authority's position, assemble the relevant documents, and prepare a response. Some matters move into an administrative appeal, while others require a court filing.

Federal disputes may involve the Internal Revenue Service, and state matters may involve South Carolina tax authorities. Each forum has its own deadlines and procedures. The firm's stated dispute work gives prospective clients a concrete basis for asking which stage, agency, and tax issue the attorneys handle.

In my opinion, the combination of planning, compliance, and dispute work is one of the clearest features of the published profile. It indicates attention to tax questions before a filing and after a disagreement begins. The website makes this part of the firm's work more specific than a simple reference to tax law.

Wills, trusts and estate administration

The firm's estate work includes charitable planning and wealth transfer. It also covers estate planning, wills, trusts, probate, and estate administration. These services concern the creation of instructions during life and the legal steps that follow a death.

Estate planning commonly starts with a review of assets, family relationships, beneficiary choices, and existing documents. A will can direct probate property and nominate people for key roles. A trust can set terms for ownership, management, distributions, and future beneficiaries.

Charitable planning can add tax and drafting questions to an estate plan. Wealth transfer work can involve lifetime gifts, transfers at death, trusts, or ownership interests in a business. The firm's tax and business services are relevant to the legal issues that can accompany those choices.

Probate and administration

Probate begins through the court process that applies to the estate. The personal representative gathers property, addresses claims, follows filing duties, and distributes assets under the governing documents and law. Estate administration can also require tax returns, accountings, asset records, and communication with beneficiaries.

Trust administration follows the trust document and the duties imposed on the trustee. Questions can arise over distributions, records, tax reporting, or the meaning of a provision. The firm's published scope places trusts alongside probate and estate administration, which identifies work involving both planning documents and their later administration.

Clients assessing estate counsel can use these categories to frame practical questions. They can ask whether the matter concerns a new plan, an amendment, probate, trust administration, charitable giving, or a transfer of business ownership. That early classification often determines which documents and records counsel needs first.

Business formation, transactions and succession

Employee benefits and nonprofit matters appear alongside the firm's corporate services. The business list also includes entity formation, operations, transactions, succession planning, and mergers and acquisitions. This covers several legal events in the life of a company.

Formation work typically requires a choice of entity and preparation of governing records. The owners may need terms for voting, management, transfers, economic rights, and departures. Tax treatment can influence the entity choice and the terms adopted at formation.

Operational work can involve contracts, ownership changes, internal approvals, and compliance duties. Succession planning addresses who will own or control the business after retirement, death, disability, or another planned transition. Estate documents and transfer restrictions may need to match the company's governing papers.

Mergers, acquisitions and nonprofit matters

A merger or acquisition usually requires review of the target business, negotiation of the deal documents, approval by the proper decision-makers, and completion of the agreed closing conditions. Tax structure can affect price terms, payment treatment, and later reporting. The firm's stated work in transactions and tax planning places both subjects within its published service list.

Nonprofit work has a different organizational setting. Formation documents, governance rules, tax status, reporting duties, and charitable activity can all require legal review. The website names nonprofit matters and charitable planning, which may be relevant when an organization or donor has connected corporate, estate, and tax questions.

How the team is presented

The website identifies twelve attorneys by name. They are Robert E. August, Jonathan R. Colao, Michelle King, Phillip J. Martin, W. Verne McGough, Jr., and Keith G. Meacham. The roster also includes Andrew D. Merline, David A. Merline, Jr., M. Chalmers Middleton II, Marie Monroe, Douglas B. O'Neal, and David M. Thompson.

The published credentials emphasize graduate tax education and South Carolina certifications. The website states that every attorney has earned a Master of Laws degree in Taxation. It also states that the Supreme Court of South Carolina has certified many of the firm's attorneys in taxation law, estate planning, or probate law.

As a reviewer, the most useful evidence is the close match between those stated credentials and the firm's named areas of work. Tax questions appear across the estate, trust, nonprofit, and corporate services described on the site. The Supreme Court of South Carolina certifications identified by the firm concern taxation law, estate planning, and probate law.