diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/memory_pool-test.h b/cpp/src/arrow/memory_pool-test.h
new file mode 100644
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+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/memory_pool-test.h
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+// Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+// or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+// distributed with this work for additional information
+// regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+// to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+// "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+// with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+// software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+// "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+// KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+// specific language governing permissions and limitations
+// under the License.
+
+#include "gtest/gtest.h"
+
+#include "arrow/memory_pool.h"
+#include "arrow/test-util.h"
+
+namespace arrow {
+
+namespace test {
+
+class TestMemoryPoolBase : public ::testing::Test {
+ public:
+  virtual ::arrow::MemoryPool* memory_pool() = 0;
+
+  void TestMemoryTracking() {
+    auto pool = memory_pool();
+
+    uint8_t* data;
+    ASSERT_OK(pool->Allocate(100, &data));
+    EXPECT_EQ(static_cast<uint64_t>(0), reinterpret_cast<uint64_t>(data) % 64);
+    ASSERT_EQ(100, pool->bytes_allocated());
+
+    pool->Free(data, 100);
+    ASSERT_EQ(0, pool->bytes_allocated());
+  }
+
+  void TestOOM() {
+    auto pool = memory_pool();
+
+    uint8_t* data;
+    int64_t to_alloc = std::numeric_limits<int64_t>::max();
+    ASSERT_RAISES(OutOfMemory, pool->Allocate(to_alloc, &data));
+  }
+
+  void TestReallocate() {
+    auto pool = memory_pool();
+
+    uint8_t* data;
+    ASSERT_OK(pool->Allocate(10, &data));
+    ASSERT_EQ(10, pool->bytes_allocated());
+    data[0] = 35;
+    data[9] = 12;
+
+    // Expand
+    ASSERT_OK(pool->Reallocate(10, 20, &data));
+    ASSERT_EQ(data[9], 12);
+    ASSERT_EQ(20, pool->bytes_allocated());
+
+    // Shrink
+    ASSERT_OK(pool->Reallocate(20, 5, &data));
+    ASSERT_EQ(data[0], 35);
+    ASSERT_EQ(5, pool->bytes_allocated());
+
+    // Free
+    pool->Free(data, 5);
+    ASSERT_EQ(0, pool->bytes_allocated());
+  }
+};
+
+}  // namespace test
+}  // namespace arrow