diff --git a/db/column_family.cc b/db/column_family.cc
index 1611125cd..05e0966bf 100644
--- a/db/column_family.cc
+++ b/db/column_family.cc
@@ -160,6 +160,11 @@ Status CheckConcurrentWritesSupported(const ColumnFamilyOptions& cf_options) {
     return Status::InvalidArgument(
         "Memtable doesn't concurrent writes (allow_concurrent_memtable_write)");
   }
+  if (cf_options.max_successive_merges != 0) {
+    return Status::InvalidArgument(
+        "max_successive_merges > 0 is incompatible "
+        "with concurrent writes (allow_concurrent_memtable_write)");
+  }
   return Status::OK();
 }
 
diff --git a/db/db_merge_operator_test.cc b/db/db_merge_operator_test.cc
index 8358ddb56..114c7e811 100644
--- a/db/db_merge_operator_test.cc
+++ b/db/db_merge_operator_test.cc
@@ -150,6 +150,8 @@ TEST_F(DBMergeOperatorTest, MergeErrorOnWrite) {
   options.create_if_missing = true;
   options.merge_operator.reset(new TestPutOperator());
   options.max_successive_merges = 3;
+  // allow_concurrent_memtable_write is incompatible with max_successive_merges
+  options.allow_concurrent_memtable_write = false;
   options.env = env_;
   Reopen(options);
   ASSERT_OK(Merge("k1", "v1"));
diff --git a/db/db_test2.cc b/db/db_test2.cc
index b30dac6b5..464aa23a9 100644
--- a/db/db_test2.cc
+++ b/db/db_test2.cc
@@ -153,6 +153,8 @@ TEST_F(DBTest2, MaxSuccessiveMergesChangeWithDBRecovery) {
   options.create_if_missing = true;
   options.statistics = rocksdb::CreateDBStatistics();
   options.max_successive_merges = 3;
+  // allow_concurrent_memtable_write is incompatible with max_successive_merges
+  options.allow_concurrent_memtable_write = false;
   options.merge_operator = MergeOperators::CreatePutOperator();
   options.disable_auto_compactions = true;
   DestroyAndReopen(options);
diff --git a/db/merge_test.cc b/db/merge_test.cc
index 2965045d9..228cb5e30 100644
--- a/db/merge_test.cc
+++ b/db/merge_test.cc
@@ -78,6 +78,9 @@ std::shared_ptr<DB> OpenDb(const std::string& dbname, const bool ttl = false,
   options.create_if_missing = true;
   options.merge_operator = std::make_shared<CountMergeOperator>();
   options.max_successive_merges = max_successive_merges;
+  if (max_successive_merges > 0) {
+    options.allow_concurrent_memtable_write = false;
+  }
   Status s;
   DestroyDB(dbname, Options());
 // DBWithTTL is not supported in ROCKSDB_LITE
diff --git a/db_stress_tool/db_stress_test_base.cc b/db_stress_tool/db_stress_test_base.cc
index c0ecb926a..3e070ee26 100644
--- a/db_stress_tool/db_stress_test_base.cc
+++ b/db_stress_tool/db_stress_test_base.cc
@@ -1946,6 +1946,7 @@ void StressTest::Open() {
       }
       s = TransactionDB::Open(options_, txn_db_options, FLAGS_db,
                               cf_descriptors, &column_families_, &txn_db_);
+      assert(s.ok());
       db_ = txn_db_;
       // after a crash, rollback to commit recovered transactions
       std::vector<Transaction*> trans;
diff --git a/test_util/testutil.cc b/test_util/testutil.cc
index e309df088..a4be935f9 100644
--- a/test_util/testutil.cc
+++ b/test_util/testutil.cc
@@ -351,7 +351,8 @@ void RandomInitCFOptions(ColumnFamilyOptions* cf_opt, DBOptions& db_options,
   // size_t options
   cf_opt->arena_block_size = rnd->Uniform(10000);
   cf_opt->inplace_update_num_locks = rnd->Uniform(10000);
-  cf_opt->max_successive_merges = rnd->Uniform(10000);
+  cf_opt->max_successive_merges =
+      db_options.allow_concurrent_memtable_write ? 0 : rnd->Uniform(10000);
   cf_opt->memtable_huge_page_size = rnd->Uniform(10000);
   cf_opt->write_buffer_size = rnd->Uniform(10000);
 
diff --git a/utilities/transactions/transaction_test.cc b/utilities/transactions/transaction_test.cc
index da1edd185..72fd0b546 100644
--- a/utilities/transactions/transaction_test.cc
+++ b/utilities/transactions/transaction_test.cc
@@ -5820,7 +5820,7 @@ TEST_P(TransactionTest, DuplicateKeys) {
     }    // do_rollback
   }      // do_prepare
 
-  if (!options.unordered_write) {
+  if (!options.unordered_write && !options.allow_concurrent_memtable_write) {
     // Also test with max_successive_merges > 0. max_successive_merges will not
     // affect our algorithm for duplicate key insertion but we add the test to
     // verify that.