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Legal Paternity
Testing
The need for a court
admissible paternity test should be discussed with your attorney.
Each state or jurisdiction can be different in whether they accept
results not ordered by the court. Once again, consult with your
attorney.
"I might need it
for court"
If you don't have a
court date and have not been advised by an attorney that you need a
legally admissible test, you may want to choose the $99 personal
paternity test. It is not likely to hold up in court but will
provide you with the truth about the relationships in your case.
Both the legal and the non-legal are identical when it comes to the
actual DNA test. The only way the two differ is in the method of
collecting your DNA.
If you find that you
are the father, you may want to concede to paternity when in court
and avoid court fees for DNA testing, which can be as high as
$1000-1500. If you find you are not the father, you can take a
second paternity test through the court and pay the higher court fee
and you will have wasted only $99 without wondering if the test will
be admissible.
Be aware: not all
"Legal Tests" are the same
To make a test
legally admissible in court, your samples must be collected by an
independent third party. This establishes what is known as the chain
of custody where your samples can be tracked and documented
throughout the process.
In order to preserve the
chain of custody all collections of samples must have been performed
or witnessed by a competent collector with no interest in the test
outcome. This disqualifies spouses, children of the person being
tested, other family members, friends and any person having any
relationship to any of the persons being tested. It is also expected
that the competent collector has packaged and transferred the
samples to the laboratory. At no time can the collection kit be in
the sole un-witnessed possession of the person who is to be tested.
If
another company is willing to send a collection kit directly to you
and tells you to use an uninterested person to witness the
collection, your DNA test will not likely hold up in court.
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