Men testing for paternity wish to learn if they are the biological father of a particular child. There are two types of paternity DNA testing, a curiosity test and a Chain of Custody test.

The curiosity test is the easiest and least expensive to perform. Men can order a home test kit online and submit a cheek swab sample from the comfort of their home. They place the swab in a container and send it back to the lab for analysis. Within a week, the answer is known.

A Chain of Custody DNA paternity test gathers the same information in a more formal structured setting. The results of this test can be used in court proceedings to determine custody and child support so the test results must be guaranteed. The alleged father goes to a certified lab, shows identification and then provides his cheek swab there. The test results are known within the same time frame however this one costs more because of the additional procedures involved.

Occasionally families don’t want to wait to know the identity of the biological father and in this case a prenatal paternity test can be conducted. A small amount of amniotic fluid is extracted from the womb for DNA analysis and is compared with the father to see if there is a match. This carries some risk of miscarriage so it is not entered into lightly.

Lastly, there are times when the alleged father is deceased and the question of paternity lives on. In this case family members can obtain genetic material from the morgue, or from the parents of the deceased alleged father since they both contributed to the DNA of their son. The father of the deceased can be tested alone as well because DNA is passed identically from father to son.

Once the DNA testing centers results for paternity is complete there is a 99.9% certainty that the biological father is identified.