DNA Establishes Legal Paternity Quickly And Accurately

While today, we don’t give a second thought to determining legal paternity through DNA testing; at one time it wasn’t even possible. There was no scientific form of legal paternity testing and people had to be taken on their word. Eye witnesses were used as back up proof whether they had high moral standing or were misguided.

Legal Paternity Testing The Old Way

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 Paternity Testing

Today, the science of DNA has disproved this ancient paternity determining methodology and is now the benchmark method used for all legal proclamations concerning paternity issues. Furthermore, incredible advances in DNA science have led to testing becoming a lot easier and affordable during the last few years.

Many Tests Conducted Annually

Over 200,000 DNA legal paternity tests are carried out every year by legal authorities and the government in an effort to solve issues related to child support, welfare issues, and inheritances. Many people don’t realize they can conduct legal paternity testing on their own at home.

Testing For Legal Paternity At Home

At-home legal paternity testing is legal as long as the test is accredited by the American Association of Blood Banks. These tests are determined to be 99.99999 percent accurate.

Highly Accurate Results

This translates into the fact that you have one-in-one million odds that your results will be incorrect. Most testing companies provide free home kits for you to place samples and send it back to the lab with the appropriate accompanying fee.

Collecting DNA With Mouth Swabs

It might not always be practical to get a blood sample for DNA analysis, especially in young children. When blood is not available, mouth swabs are perfectly acceptable for legal paternity testing. To obtain DNA in this manner, all you have to do is massage the cheeks and then swab the inside of the mouth to collect cells for analysis.

Mom not Needed for Testing

These are then sent to the testing lab for analyzing. It takes at least 16 genetic markers from the child node to match these to any suspected father. Children receive half of the genetic markers from each parent. Therefore, legal paternity testing is always accurate even without the mother’s DNA information. Labs specializing in DNA testing usually provide 10-day turnaround times with fees as high as $300 for a basic test.

Other Uses For DNA Genetic Testing

Test kits are available for analyzing a number of different familial relationships including siblings or establishing grandparent relationships and even determining cousins. DNA testing is used to determine the zygosity for twins (fraternal or identical relationships). It is also used to verify a person’s ancestral origin as well as put to use in many cases to verify Native American ancestry for participation in many government-sponsored programs.

DNA genetic testing can even be used to determine legal paternity in cases where parents are worried their baby was switched in the hospital. Legal paternity testing has come a long way over the years and has evolved into a precise science with many useful applications.

There are occasions when fathers are not sure if the child they claim is his own. This is when legal paternity testing 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.