I don’t understand why families go to court over issues involving children. Courts take lots of your time and even more of your money. The Family Court of Massachusetts alone orders more than 4000 paternity tests each year. These families are paying to file child support or paternity suits, many are paying attorneys to represent them, and most are spending a lot of time waiting in the courtroom for their turn to be heard and ruled upon. All this for a judges order saying a man has to pay child support?

Most of those 4000 court ordered paternity test had to be a result of peace of mind issues. You’ve got a guy saying he’s not going to financially support a child before he knows the child is his. The best way for him to know is with a DNA test.

Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like most men who are able would be more than willing to support a child they know they fathered. Most would do it without a judge telling them they had to. In fact, most men who are court ordered to pay child support are probably more resentful and less likely to pay up than those who aren’t court ordered.

The bottom line is paternity testing is convenient and affordable. Why not try to settle everything outside the court room in order to avoid the cost and stress of it all? In the end, if you can’t work something out your DNA test results are court admissible.

If you need advice, there are some good family attorneys out there who may be able to help resolve the situation outside the court room.

There are a number of reasons why home DNA testing is the best option for gaining peace of mind when it comes to paternity. The testing is confidential, since it can be done in the privacy of your home. Secondly, home DNA testing is usually less expensive than other options, because there are no collection fees. Finally, a home DNA test is convenient, because you can complete the test whenever you have the time. Those factors aside, people who want peace of mind should always consider legal paternity testing options.

Legal DNA test doesn’t mean results are sent to court. It doesn’t mean child support requirements are automatically issued after results come out. The term “legal DNA test” means only that your DNA test results will be admissible in court IF you ever need them. Here are a few reasons why you may consider legal testing instead of a home DNA test.

1. Accuracy – Mistakes can be made when you collect samples yourself. The collection process itself isn’t super complicated, but an experienced collector will make sure samples are taken and stored properly. After all, accuracy is the most important feature of a paternity test.
2. Cost – Although the cost of a home DNA test is generally less than a legal test, the long term cost can be much higher. If you get a home test and then decide you want to use the results in court, you’ll have to start over with a legal test. The cost of a legal test alone is much less expensive than having to do two tests.
3. Service – It’s always nice to know the job is getting done right. With a legal DNA test there’s no confusion. An experience collector takes the samples and transports them to the lab for you. You don’t have to worry about anything except showing up for your appointment.

Those are a few factors that should go into your decision on which type of DNA test to choose. As always, make sure you choose an accredited and experienced laboratory to do your test, or you risk results that are not accurate.

For more information check out:

Home DNA Test

Legal DNA test

When paternity must be determined before a child is born, prenatal paternity testing is available. DNA testing while pregnant is more invasive than paternity testing after birth, so parents should weigh all options before deciding to move forward. Once you decide a prenatal paternity test is needed you have two options:

CVS - Chorionic Villus Sampling – Usually completed between weeks 8 and 14 of pregnancy, the CVS is an invasive procedure. During the procedure, a catheter is inserted into the cervix, and suction is used to collect a small sample of chorionic villi. Buccal swabs are collected from the inside of the cheeks of the mother and potential father. A comparison is made between the samples. CVS paternity testing is as accurate as testing done after birth.

Amniocentesis – Usually completed between weeks 14 and 20 of pregnancy, the amniocentesis is also invasive. A doctor uses a needle to transabdominally withdraw approximately 10ml of amniotic fluid. Again, cheek swabs are collected from mother and potential father and compared.

Not knowing paternity can be extremely difficult to families. After weighing the risks to the fetus many parents decide it’s important to know paternity before birth.

For more information about testing procedures visit prenatal paternity test page.

Today’s technology allows DNA testing labs to provide non-invasive DNA testing using buccal swabs. Buccal swab DNA tests have many benefits over blood samples. They are easy to transport, easy to store, painless to collect, and as accurate as any blood sample. The benefits are leading to decreasing prices to consumers because of more efficient shipping and testing methods. However, DNA collection using buccal swabs still raises concerns among many consumers.

Many people still feel that DNA testing using a blood sample is the only accurate way of testing for relationships. We receive calls from clients who have completed non-invasive buccal swab tests with us. They don’t believe the test results and want to do the testing again using blood samples.

Non-invasive DNA testing using buccal swabs is as accurate as DNA testing using blood samples.

The AP reported today that scientists in Rome are attempting to gain clearance into Leonardo Da Vinci’s alleged burial site. The purpose is to perform carbon and DNA testing to determine two things:

1. If the body is that of Da Vinci

2. If the Mona Lisa is a self portrait

Wow.

I don’t think exhuming a body that has been buried for almost 500 years will provide any evidence to support either of their goals. The likelihood of obtaining DNA is EXTREMELY rare. The best place to check would be a molar or femur. The DNA is likely degraded by now. Even if they do get a DNA sample, what will they compare it to? Without a known Da Vinci reference sample there’s nothing they can do to identify him using DNA.

On to goal number 2. These scientists think they can reconstruct Da Vinci’s bone structure using the remains, and figure out if the Mona Lisa is actually a self portrait.

My suggestion: Look at some actual portraits of Da Vinci.

Leave the guy alone.

There are a lot of mothers and potential fathers who want to complete a paternity test without the other parent knowing. If you are a parent who wants a confidential paternity test, then this post is for you.

Step 1

Collect the DNA samples. The most cost effective way to do this is with a buccal swab or    Q-tip. If you are the potential father, and the child is too young to know, then this is your best option. Use 4 Q-tips for yourself and 4 for the child. With a firm scraping motion, twirl the swab on the inside of the cheek. The purpose is to obtain skin cells from the inside of the cheek, not saliva. Scrape each swab for 20 seconds, making sure to cover the entire swab. Collect two swabs from each cheek. Place the swabs in a paper envelope. Label the envelope clearly with the name of the participant, whether the participant is the father or child, and what race the participant is.

*Note: Do not store swabs in plastic bags or other plastic materials. This promotes moisture and bacteria, which can damage the DNA.

If you are the mother and do not want to collect swabs from the father, or if swabs are not available, you can collect DNA using other methods. Look for something that is handled often by the person you want to test, and only by that person. Do not get a sample that is handled by more than one person, as this will cause a mixture. Again, put the samples in a paper envelope or bag, label the envelope clearly.

*Note: Good samples for private paternity tests can be a razor blade, toothbrush, cigarette butt, hat, or hair from the root. Cut hair will not contain DNA.

Step 2

Choose a laboratory to send the samples. You can choose the lab based on price, turnaround time, experience, accreditations, customer service, or a combination of those characteristics.

Different labs will have varying procedures for private paternity testing.

*Note: Private paternity testing is not allowed in New York State. You must get a legally admissible test if you live in New York.

Step 3

Ship the samples to the lab. Make sure to include contact information. Since you want the testing to be private, be careful what information you provide. You may want to speak with a customer service representative at the lab to discuss payment and results reporting.

Step 4

Wait for your results. Results are available anywhere between 1 business day and 8 weeks, depending on which company you hire to complete the paternity test. Keep in mind that the results you receive will NOT be court admissible since they were not collected by an unbiased third party.

Learn more about a private paternity test or legal paternity test.

The USCIS has decided to change procedures in many of the foreign countries who suggest DNA testing for family based immigration cases.

In the past, U.S. DNA labs have sent testing supplies to physicians, who are authorized by the U.S. Embassy to perform DNA collections. In a slow moving process, U.S. Embassies across the globe are beginning to perform DNA collections at the Embassy itself, essentially cutting the physicians out of the loop.

This has caused significant delays in the DNA testing process for many families trying to immigrate to the U.S. We’ve noticed about 3 month delays with most countries making the transition. In addition, U.S. Embassies are not as equipped for DNA testing as the physicians.

For example, the Clinica Abreu, an authorized collection facility in the Dominican Rebublic, could handle more than 25 DNA cases each day. Now that testing has moved to the Embassy, DNA test appointments are limited to 10 cases.

The purpose of this change is to prevent any potential fraud. Although this may be effective at preventing this fraud, it is also creating a large time delay for many families who have been waiting years to see their loved ones.

View the immigration DNA testing procedures.

Evidence is coming out that DNA testing is sometimes wrong. What is considered by most people in the general public to be foolproof, DNA test results are assisting in the wrongful convictions of innocent citizens and contributing to child support payments for men who are not biological fathers. There are two reasons for bad DNA testing results; poor testing methods and poor interpretation.

60 minutes reported on a man who was wrongly convicted of rape and sentenced to 25 years in prison. The Houston crime lab said his DNA profile matched that of an evidence sample found at the crime scene. It turns out the profiles didn’t match at all. The test results were interpreted wrong.

DNA testing results show a series of peaks, which need to be interpreted manually by a  trained scientist. The machines that produce the data do not produce the final results. When you get a scientist who is undertrained or under the watchful eye of biased parties, it’s easy to get wrong results.

Cross contamination can occur during evidence collection or DNA testing. This is another leading cause of poor results. Evidence samples mix with reference samples or other evidence samples. It ruins the whole test.

Laboratories have been knows to mix standard paternity testing samples in child support cases, leading to false exclusions. Again, data can be interpreted wrong and produce a false inclusion.

In any regard, it’s of utmost importance to check the qualifications and methods of any DNA testing laboratory you choose to use for testing. There are plenty of reputable labs out there. There are also plenty of labs like Houston.

A man sent us an email over the weekend because he wanted to know if he was the father of a child. He hasn’t taken a paternity test yet, but he knows the blood types of himself, the mother and the child. Based on those blood types he wants to know if he can still be the father. Surely this man is not the only person with this question, so I’ll answer the question publicly.

Blood type antigens are inherited from the father and the mother. Depending on the blood types of these individuals it is sometimes possible to exclude an alleged father. However, it is never possible to prove paternity. Blood typing, based on the ABO blood group system is not an accurate method for determining paternity.

Blood typing is useful for predicting potential paternity situations, but it is not useful for a legal determination of paternity.

This specific case is as follows:

Potential Father: O

Mother: B

Child: AB

Using the chart to the right, we can determine that the potential father is excluded from being the father. ABO blood typing can exclude roughly 30% of the male population from being the possible father.

I read an Associated Press article today, posted on miamiherald.com called, “Lugo accepts DNA test for third paternity claim”. Until recent years, paternity suits have had a stereotype of being delegated only to middle or lower class families, and are associated with the terms “child support” and “deadbeat dad”. A list of recent paternity suits that have reached the public eye has changed all that. Take the following list of names I pulled off the top of my head:

1. Keanu Reeves
2. Jude Law
3. Eddie Murphy
4. John Edwards
5. Larry Birkhead

For a longer list, check out this celebrity paternity cases article. You’ll see that this has been happening for a long time.

The DNA test being required of Paraguay President Lugo is more surprising, however than all these others. At least to me. The AP reported that Lugo is a former priest, who resigned in only 2004 to get into politics. Talk about a mid-life crisis. This paternity suit is actually Lugo’s third. The first occurred while he was bishop of San Pedro. Now, I don’t know all the rules of being a bishop, so I won’t make any snap judgments to this claim. I don’t believe these claims have been substantiated.

This leads me to my point that many of these celebrities are being thrust into the negative light of paternity suits for many reasons. Some, maybe Lugo, because they actually fathered children to women who either want financial support or a father figure for the child, or both. Others, like Keanu, were targeted purely for financial reasons (the DNA test showed he did not father any of the woman’s 4 children).

What I’m getting at is paternity suits and DNA tests are not restricted to the lower class. U.S. DNA labs tested over 300,000 samples in 2007, the last reported year. That number is expected to grow.

In any case, these matters should remain out of the public eye. They should be kept behind closed courtroom doors to be worked out between the parties involved. I say this as I feed the media frenzy with my blog post. I suppose I am as anxious as anyone to see how Lugo’s DNA test results come out. At least he’s not going on Maury.