Legal Paternity Testing or home Paternity Testing?
Legal Paternity Testing or home Paternity Testing?
So what exactly is the different between legal and home paternity testing? Before even going ahead with the legal test, make sure you actually need the result for court purposes. The result of a legal test is no more accurate than that of a home test. Lets discuss the two together to understand more.
Why would I do a legal paternity test?
If you are sure that your paternity case will end up in court or you are already in court fighting over child maintenance payments, getting the childs surname changed on a birth certificate, paternity fraud or other such related issues than yes, you will most likely need a legal paternity test. If you are having doubts that your child may not be yours, no matter how sure you feel about this, you should always begin with a peace of mind or an at home test. This test is cheaper and takes less time to execute. Once you have the results of this test you might want to proceed with a legal DNA test but it is not recommended to do so before, unless the results of a home test have confirmed your suspicions.
How do the legal paternity test and the at home paternity test vary?
We might begin here by discussing the areas where the two types of paternity tests are similar. In fact, both DNA tests are carried out using saliva DNA samples. The samples are collected by means of oral swabs which can be rubbed against the inside of your mouth and under your tongue for around 10 seconds before allowing them to dry for one hour. The simplicity of this sampling procedure allows for self-sampling, unassisted by any medical professional. DNA testing companies can in fact send a kit to your house containing the oral swabs and everything required for the test. Hence, why we talk about home DNA paternity testing.
Legal testing does vary a bit in that the DNA samples need to be collected by a third party who is also a witness to the sample collection. This ensures that nobody attempts to cheat and that there is no deliberate or accidental mix-up of swabs. The legal paternity test also requires more paper work to be filled in and moreover, the results need to be signed by a notary as the final step to having your court admissible result.
Quentin Dort is a writer specializing in the field of Paternity Testing. Other articles written by the author are related to Infidelity Testing, DNA testing for forensic purposes and genetic testing. All articles by this author are available online and can be found on the net.
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