The Truth About Paternity Testing

A family can find out very quickly if there is a biological relationship between a child and an alleged father with a paternity test. Nowadays, paternity testing is used to decide custody cases, establish legitimate child support cases, influence adoption proceedings, and to aid in claiming inheritance by providing proof of relationship.

Generally, a paternity test is conducted through a comprehensive DNA testing and analysis of different enzymes, proteins, and HLA antigens. Paternity testing has three test options available: prenatal testing, viability test, or in-home testing.

Prenatal paternity testing is done when the pregnant mother is still on her 10th through the 13th week or 14th to 24th week of pregnancy, depending on the procedure to be used. This test may be conducted either through amniocentesis or chronic villi sampling (CVS).

Viability test uses remarkable samples to check for the DNA. This is commonly used when the alleged father is not present or cannot be found. In this process, preserved samples like hair, body tissues, and blood are being used.

If you simply want to know "discretely" who the father of a child is, then a home-conducted paternity test is for you. Do-it-yourself kits use the buccal swab to get the needed material, this swab placed into the mouth and performing a quick swipe of the inside of the cheek. Once the samples have been taken, they are sent to a lab for testing. The DNA material that was collected from the man in question as well as from the baby is then processed in the lab for possible matches. However, it must be kept in mind that the result derived from this process is not admissible in court.

A paternity test can be conducted for either personal or legal purposes. For personal paternity tests, the people involved can do the collection of samples themselves and simply send the DNA samples to the paternity test lab for processing. On the other hand, legal paternity tests require a detailed documentation to be admissible in court.

There are only two possible outcomes after taking a paternity test. If the man's DNA types do not match the child's DNA, then he is excluded as the biological father. However, if the DNA types match, then the man is not excluded as the father.

Many lives have been forever changed with paternity testing. So, it is very important that you fully anticipate all potential outcomes before the paternity testing is conducted. The Internet is a great place to purchase a home DNA paternity testing kit.