Can a non-physician own a med spa in South Carolina?
Ownership · part of The Practice Perimeter
Short answer
Not if the med spa is a professional corporation — shares may go only to individuals licensed to render the professional service in the articles, or to qualifying partnerships or professional corporations; the cited rules don't address other entity forms.
South Carolina limits who may hold shares in a professional corporation to individuals authorized to render the professional service the corporation was formed for, together with qualifying partnerships and professional corporations, and lets the licensing authority for a profession restrict that further where it considers this necessary to prevent violation of the profession’s ethical standards.
Drawn from 4 verified rules in this section · regulatory monitoring, not legal advice
- S.C. Code §33-19-200(a) · Sep 3, 2026
- S.C. Code §33-19-200(b) · Sep 3, 2026
- S.C. Code §33-19-103(7) · Sep 3, 2026
- S.C. Code §40-47-110(B) (surveyed), §40-47-20 (surveyed), S.C. Code Title 33 ch. 19 (surveyed), S.C. Code Title 40 ch. 13 (surveyed) · Sep 7, 2026
Related South Carolina rules
A professional corporation may issue shares, fractional shares, and rights or options to purchase shares only to individuals who are authorized by law in this or another state to render a professional service described in the corporation’s articles of incorporation; general partnerships in which all the partners are qualified persons with respect to the professional corporation and in which at least one partner is authorized by law in this state to render such a professional service; and professional corporations, domestic or foreign, authorized by law in this State to render such a professional service.
S.C. Code §33-19-200(a) · verified Sep 3, 2026
If a licensing authority with jurisdiction over a profession considers it necessary to prevent violation of the ethical standards of the profession, the authority by rule may restrict or condition, or revoke in part, the authority of professional corporations to issue shares.
S.C. Code §33-19-200(b) · verified Sep 3, 2026
How other states answer this
- Alabama
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- Ohio
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- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
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- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
Related South Carolina questions
- What limits does South Carolina place on a med spa's business structure?
- In South Carolina, may a non-clinical owner or manager be paid a share of revenue?
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← All South Carolina rules and changes · MedSpaRadar is regulatory monitoring and reference: it summarizes public laws, regulations and agency actions and links each to its source. It is not legal, medical, or compliance advice, and using it creates no attorney-client relationship. A summary can lag its source or leave out detail, and monitoring itself can be interrupted — so an absence of alerts means nothing reached you, not that nothing happened. Read the cited source, check its effective date, and confirm any change to your operations or clinical practice with qualified health-law counsel and your medical director. Legislative data via LegiScan (CC BY 4.0).