Someone who wants to have children probably aspires to a family with both parents. But what if everything turns out differently and is the result of a one-night stand, a fling or a fleeting affair and the man denies being the father?
Maybe the man denies it because he doesn’t see any similarities between him and the child, because he doesn’t want a child or because he is afraid of the paternal duties. Or what if the father would like to take care of the child, but the mother denies paternity? Perhaps because she considers him unsuitable.
In precisely such cases, both the mother and the father can enforce their rights to maintenance and also contact with the child in court. For this purpose, a paternity test is required to certify paternity.
Table of contents
What Is A Paternity Test?
A paternity test is a procedure to determine the probability that a man is the father of a child. Officially, this procedure is called a parentage report. It is generally used to determine the relationship between two or more persons.
Cost Of Paternity Test
If you look in different paternity test labs online you will get a price range that goes from 150€-500€. Customers are usually sent a free saliva collection kit, which they must then send to the laboratory. However, if you buy such a test in the pharmacy you have to pay about 20€. Also, the laboratory test in the pharmacy will cost you up to the three-digit range.
The basic price of most laboratories is about 149€. It is only for the paternity test for two people. So child and potential father. If a third person is added, such as a mother, it will of course be more expensive.
The paternity test also becomes expensive if the test result is to be used for a court case. In this case, the sample collection must take place under supervision and be certified with an expert opinion. The supervision can be done by a doctor, the youth welfare office or the responsible laboratory.
How Is A Paternity Test Performed?
DNA analysis is the most suitable method for a paternity test given the current state of technology. An older method is blood grouping. Here one examines which blood group of the child could result from the blood group of the mother and the potential father. This can exclude paternity, but not confirm it.
In the equally outdated anthropological-hereditary report (in a professional manner and on the basis of probability calculations) nothing else is done in principle than the matching of optical characteristics of the father with those of the child, for example eye color, skin color, hair color, but also iris structure, head shape or body size at an older age, which is common in every family.
DNA Analysis
Today, DNA analysis is performed by all laboratories that perform parentage analysis. For a DNA analysis, samples of DNA must first be taken. This DNA is found in just about all body materials. These samples can be blood samples, saliva samples or hair with hair roots.
However, the most common form of sample collection is a saliva swab taken from the oral mucosa with a cotton swab. If paternity is confirmed, this is usually confirmed with more than 99.9%. If paternity is excluded, this is done with one hundred percent certainty.
Simply explained, DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is a ladder-shaped molecule that carries the human genetic information. This genetic information is unique for every human being except twins. It contains the genes of the father and mother for every visible feature on the body. Visible features are, for example, eye color, hair color, nose shape or ear shape.
For a DNA analysis, a laboratory technician decodes this DNA and compares the father’s DNA at at least 16 gene loci with the child’s DNA. The more gene loci are examined in the laboratory, the more reliable the result of the paternity test and paternity can be safely confirmed or excluded.
If, in addition to the DNA sample of the child and the potential father, the DNA sample of the mother is also available, a DNA analysis is facilitated because the mother’s genes can be filtered out.
In this analysis, laboratory technicians must be careful that there may be mutations in the child’s DNA in addition to the parent’s genes.
Complicated Statistical Analysis
A paternity test has only one hundred percent certainty: paternity is excluded. The definite proof that a man is the father of a child, these tests can not bring. Instead, they only give statistical values that reach up to a 99.9999% probability. In court, however, even a 99.9% probability is accepted as proof.
Legal Situation Of The Father
Biological father: The biological father is the male person who fathered the child.
Social father: The social father assumes the role of the child’s father. This can be the biological father, as well as in a patchwork family the non-biological father.
Legal father: The legal father is the man who was married to the mother at the time of birth, who has acknowledged paternity or whose paternity was established by a court with a paternity test. The legal father does not have to be the child’s biological father
Acknowledgment Of Paternity
An acknowledgment of paternity is a voluntary declaration by the father of paternity of a child born out of wedlock. If both parents are married, paternity is automatically acknowledged to the father. However, if the man suspects that the child is not his, he can challenge paternity in court. The mother can also force a determination of paternity through the court if the biological father denies paternity. In both cases, a paternity test that must be notarized is required.
Paternity Establishment
If the potential biological father of the child denies being the father, a judicial determination of paternity is required. In this case, a petition is filed by the mother or the child against the father. If the child is still a minor, the application is filed by the youth welfare office. A judicial determination of paternity is also necessary if the biological father is not confirmed by the mother. In this case, the application of the potential biological father is filed against the child. The family court then processes this application.
Use Of The Paternity Test In Court
A paternity test is only valid in court if it is consensual. This means that the child’s consent must be given or enforced by the court. If the child is still a minor, the guardian decides on a voluntary paternity test. If a sample of DNA is taken secretly from the child, this constitutes an interference with the child’s personal rights. Thus, this paternity test may not be used in court. If the paternity of the man is established by the court, he is immediately considered the biological father and must immediately exercise the associated rights and obligations.
