Determining Legal Paternity Through DNA Testing

Using DNA for legal paternity testing has been around long enough for us to take it for granted today. However, such precise scientific methods for determining legal paternity have not always been available. People pretty much had to be taken at their word or the matter settled in court by a judge.

Legal Paternity Testing In The Past

When it came to determining legal paternity, the judge often sat the child and named father side by side and gave them a hard looking over to see if they looked related. He would then have to make a legal ruling based on his assumptions. No power was given to the fact that the same eye or hair color and shape of face could be totally coincidental. Nor was credence given to the fact that a father and child could bear little resemblance to each other. At one time, legal paternity testing amounted to little more than comparing eye colors.

Modern Legal Paternity Testing

Thankfully those outdated methods of determining legal paternity are nothing more than a humorous look at the past. DNA testing has become the benchmark method for all legal proclamations when it comes to paternity issues. DNA testing itself has evolved over the years and it is a much simpler process than it once was. Legal paternity testing today is easy to do and accurate beyond dispute.

Thousands of DNA Legal Paternity Tests Performed Yearly

Over 200,000 DNA tests are done each year by the government or other legal institutions in order to sort out welfare, child support, and inheritance issues. Many people do not realize it is possible to conduct their own at-home legal paternity testing.

Testing For Legal Paternity At Home

Paternity testing at-home is legal as long as an AABB (American Association of Blood Banks) – accredited DNA test is acquired. Testing can be accomplished even without a mother sample resulting in 99.99999 percent accuracy.

Highly Accurate Results

Another way to look at is that you have one in one million odds that you will get an incorrect reading with your at home test. A lot of labs that conduct these DNA tests will even provide the home kit to you for free. You simply collect the DNA samples and return the kit back to the lab with the testing fee.

No Baby Blood

Testing companies are fully aware that there’s a great deal of discomfort drawing blood from children to get a DNA sample for legal paternity testing. Therefore, buccal (mouth) swabs of the inside cheeks are always accepted as alternatives. The process is to massage the inside of the child’s mouth gently so cheek cells can be collected.

Mom’s DNA Not Needed

DNA testing is accurate even without comparing it to the mother’s DNA. Legal paternity testing requires at least sixteen genetic markers to match up between father and child. Since the child receives half of these markers from his father, the father’s DNA is all that is required for comparison against the child’s DNA. Labs that specialize in legal paternity issues usually return results within ten days and charge around $300 for a basic test.

Other Uses For DNA Genetic Testing

DNA can determine familial relationships beyond father and child. Testing can confirm relationships between siblings, cousins, and grandparents. DNA testing can determine if twins are fraternal or identical. Genetic testing can also be used for genealogy purposes to determine one’s ancestral origin. DNA can provide a legal basis for verifying Native American ancestry to make one eligible for government programs.

DNA legal paternity testing can even help put nervous parents at ease if they have suspicions their child was switched at the hospital. DNA testing has come a long way and has become the standard for determining legal paternity as well as being useful for many other applications.

There are occasions when fathers are not sure if the child they claim is his own. This is when court ordered paternity test comes in handy to test the DNA features of the child that matches his. This will reassure the father if he has come to father a legitimate child. Or you can try court ordered paternity test.