Types of Tests

A DNA Test for Paternity establishes the identity of a child’s father.

A DNA Test becomes legal (or court-approved) when the samples are taken by an authorized third party (i.e. the witness) through chain-of-custody documentation, thereby making the results admissible in a court of law. DNA sampling technicians provide the third party service and our case managers provide all the documentation that proves that the results will be absolute and can be relied upon as fact in a court of law. My DNA Paternity Testing Labs can schedule you with an in lab technician or a mobile collector as needed for an additional fee.

Nonlegal DNA Paternity Testing cannot be used in a court of law as evidence and is strictly for security and peace of mind between the mother and the father of a child. Our Home Testing option is our version of the nonlegal DNA paternity test. Our Home Testing Kit includes the same client authorization form that we file within the administrative office only your home becomes the lab and you become the technician. Do not worry! We are all certified at the administrative office and in the labs to help you execute the test effectively.

The home testing kit will be mailed to you with the client authorization form, two buccal swabs per patient, and instructions on how to perform the test. In addition, you will receive a mailing label. Once you have the samples collected, you will use this label to mail the kit back to our lab. These samples will then be processed and once your results are available, we will reveal the results as you indicated when you purchased your kit.

Although the samples are sent to the same lab that performs our Legal DNA Tests, these tests are performed in the privacy of your own home with an At Home DNA Testing Kit without any of the legal identification procedures that occur in the lab. If you purchase a nonlegal test, at no time can it be converted to a legal test. If the documentation needed for a legal test is required you will have to purchase an additional in lab, legal test.

A prenatal test can be performed on or after the tenth week of the gestational period (pregnancy). An acknowledgement of paternity or a denial of paternity can be signed before or after the birth of a child; however, it does not take effect until after the birth of the child. Ergo, if the alleged father is in a position where he is paying for the mother’s medical care, it would be more cost effective to have a prenatal test performed to avoid payments. On the other hand, if the mother is in need of state or federal aid, a prenatal test will assist her in proving her need.

Our Post Mortem or “After Death” DNA Paternity Test is helpful in situations when one is trying to collect benefits of social security, life insurance, or trying to obtain medical records for future use. The sample from the beneficiary is conducted in lab just like out Legal Paternity Test, and the sample from the deceased is retrieved by a blood stain card or a hair sample. Unfortunately, this is the only situation in which we can use hair follicle testing.

In the event that the individual has passed far before the thought to have a test, we are able to test using a close relative to the alleged father. If the child is male, we prefer to use a male relative such as the alleged father’s father or brother. Likewise, if the child is female, we prefer to use a female relative such as the alleged father’s mother or sister. Please do not worry if this is not possible. Not every situation is ideal! Call us on our toll free line 866-GET-DNA9 to find out how we can organize a test to fit your specific needs.

Maternity DNA Testing may seem unnecessary to most; however, there are situations when determining the biological mother of a child is important.

Immigration is the first condition when Maternity DNA Testing is vital. An immigration petition that is based on biological maternity relationship, the US immigration authorities (USCIS or United States embassies) prefer the petitioner and beneficiaries to use a legal DNA maternity test to prove the relationship and allow either the mother or the child to immigrate to the United States.

Adoption is another situation in which a DNA Maternity Test is necessary. Mothers who feel they are too young or too unprepared to have children might opt to have their child adopted through a open or closed adoption. Open adoptions offer the chance for the mother to be a part of her child’s life; however closed adoptions exclude the mother from being involved in the child’s life. In either situation, the child might later decide that they wish to find his or her biological mother. When the mother is contacted, she or the child might request a maternity test to determine that the child is actually the child she had adopted at birth. In addition, this will give the child the ability to obtain medical records, social security or insurance benefits, etc.

Surrogacy is the most topical need for DNA Maternity Testing. Recently there has been a surge in the amount of United States parents utilizing surrogacy to have a baby. There are two variations of surrogacy: traditional and gestational. Traditional surrogacy is done via artificial insemination, with the surrogate using her egg and another man’s sperm to conceive the embryo. The gestational surrogacy is done via In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) where fertilized eggs from another woman are implanted into the surrogate’s uterus. In both cases, the intended parents need to verify the birth parents of the child and take proper legal procedures to obtain their parental rights. A Maternity DNA Test will exclude the surrogate as the biological mother in a gestational surrogacy case while it will confirm the surrogate as the mother as the biological mother in a traditional surrogacy case. In a traditional case, once the biological mother is confirmed she will be able to waive her parental rights to make the child available for adoption. In a maternity DNA test, the father is not required to participate in the testing.

In a Siblingship DNA Test, two individuals are tested to determine whether they are half or full siblings, i.e. share one or both of their biological parents. Full siblings share both of their biological parents and half siblings share only one of their biological parents. My DNA Paternity Testing Lab can assist you in obtaining either of these tests. Siblingship Tests can be used to confirm paternity indirectly in cases when the alleged father is incapable or unwilling to participate in paternity test.The chain-of-custody DNA test results can be used as a legal evidence in inheritance, social security benefits, and other legal situations.

Since siblings have the same parent(s), the odds of them sharing the same genes are much higher than two unrelated individuals . A siblingship DNA test discovers these DNA matches and determines the probability that the two individuals are related. Our DNA tests for siblings usually show a number of genetic matches in true biological siblings. In these cases, the test results may show the probability of siblingship to be up to 99%; however, a percentage over 0% will show a connection between the two related peoples.

Avuncular DNA Testing is used to determine the relatedness between a child and his or her uncle or aunt in the event that the biological parent that links the relationship is deceased or unavailable for paternity or maternity testing. Participation of the child’s other parent is strongly encouraged for more conclusive results, but not necessarily required.

As mentioned above, any of our types of tests can be used for immigration as long as it is a Legal In Lab DNA Test. We must however have the name and address of the United States Embassy along with your immigration case number to schedule the test.

For tribal enrollment, we have several connections with tribal nations to help with your enrollment procedures. We are familiar with the tribal courts and the paperwork that needs to be organized for tribal member enrollment. A lot of times, it is necessary that either a paternity or a maternity and a paternity test is necessary for enrollment. Please call us at 866-GET-DNA9 to find out how we can help you with your special case. Click for More about Tribal Enrollment and Tribal Contacts.