Paternity Testing

Ideally, a DNA paternity test analyzes DNA specimens from the mother, the child and the alleged father. If the mother is unavailable for DNA testing, we can also perform the DNA paternity test without her.

We use the mother's DNA to identify the parts of the child's DNA that came from the biological mother (they match up). This lets us know that the remaining parts of the child's DNA had to come from the biological father, so we know what to compare to the DNA tested man. Without the mother, we cannot know which parts of the child's DNA came from the child's biological father. When the mother is not paternity tested, it is often necessary to do more DNA testing. If the mother is available, it is better to include her in the DNA paternity test. But even if the mother's DNA specimen is not available PTC Laboratories guarantees a 99.99% probability of paternity, so that the client still receives a very reliable paternity DNA testing.

If there is more than one possible father of the child and the possible fathers are closely related to each other, then it is very important to paternity test them both when testing for paternity. This would be true, for example, if two potential fathers are related to each other as brothers or as father and son. The paternity test of a single alleged father only identifies a probability of paternity for that alleged father compared to other unrelated men. If two possible fathers are closely related, then their DNA genetic makeup can be very similar, and they could easily both receive a positive paternity test result. In that case, PTC Laboratories will continue DNA testing until one of the alleged fathers is excluded (at no extra charge). If only one of the related alleged fathers is available, the client can pay the laboratory to perform additional DNA testing in order to establish a likelihood that the tested man is the biological father as opposed to the unavailable relative. But it is best to DNA test all related parties who could be the father of the child. Click here for pricing.