Guarantee

If PTC tests a child and the child's alleged father, our test will either exclude the alleged father, showing that he is not the biological father of the child, or the test will show a probability of paternity of at least 99.99%. If there is ever a situation where we can not achieve this level of certainty, we will refund your test fee, and still give you the paternity test results.

Most laboratories only guaranty a 99.0% probability of paternity. As discussed under Reliability and False Positives, a test at this level identifies a genetic pattern that is possessed on average by one in every one hundred people, and in any individual case the genetic pattern could be much more common still. This means that there are thousands of men who have the tested genetic pattern, and who would receive exactly the same test results if they took the same DNA paternity test. This causes the tested man to be concerned that he may not be the biological father of the child, but may simply be one of the many men with this genetic pattern.

By guaranteeing a minimum probability of paternity of 99.99%, PTC offers you a test that will identify a genetic pattern possessed on average by fewer than one in ten thousand individuals. In fact, most of our tests identify genetic patterns possessed by fewer than one in one hundred million individuals. This higher level of discrimination gives the tested man much greater assurance that the reported test result is not a "false positive," and that he is in fact the biological father of the child.

As with other laboratories, PTC's guarantee applies only to cases in which a good DNA specimen is available from the child and the alleged parent. Unlike some other laboratories, PTC does not offer a lower guaranty in cases where the mother's specimen is unavailable or the laboratory encounters a mutation in DNA. We guaranty a minimum 99.99% probability of paternity even if you are only testing the child and alleged father.

Other examples of testing situations include "family reconstruction" such as a paternity test that includes specimens from the parents or other relatives of a missing alleged father. Another variation is a "sibling study" done to determine the probability that someone is the biological brother or sister of other tested individuals. In these types of studies it is not always possible to know what level of certainty will be attainable. Thus the same guarantee is not possible for these types of tests.

For standard situations that test a child and an alleged parent, PTC's 99.99% guarantee gives you much greater assurance that you are receiving the correct answer to the question of who is the father. Our testing procedures also provide greater confidence for family reconstructions. By choosing PTC for your testing you are able to obtain this assurance at no greater cost than you would have paid for less reliable testing.