Accuracy Guarantee

In almost all paternity cases, if the alleged father is the true father, all 15 genetic markers will match those of the child. This is referred to as “no exclusions.” *We guarantee that in such cases (testing the mother, child, and alleged father), our tests will yield Probabilities of Paternity of more than 99.999%. This is a 1000 times more than the 99% required by the AABB (American Association of Blood Banks). Such extremely high probabilities mean that you can have the peace of mind that the tested father is the true father. If we fail to exceed Probabilities of Paternity of 99.999% in cases of no exclusions, we will refund the cost of the test. Another way to interpret a minimum Probability of Paternity of 99.999% is that the chance of a wrong conclusion (i.e., that the biological father is not the man tested) is at worst 1 in 100,000. Typically in our tests, these odds are 1 in millions, or even higher.

It is possible for the tested father to be the true father and still have one or even two exclusions (mismatched genetic markers) because of mutations in the father’s DNA. In most cases of one exclusion, the Probability of Paternity will still be very high (greater than 99.9%), although this cannot be guaranteed. Cases of two exclusions may be ambiguous and require further testing of additional genetic markers. Cases of three or more exclusions result in the conclusion that the tested father is “excluded” as being the father of the child.

If a test includes only one parent and the child, we cannot guarantee a minimal probability of parenthood. In most cases, however, these probabilities are greater than 99.99%.

*This guarantee assumes that the persons tested are each members of one of the following races: Asian-American, African-American, Caucasian-American, or Hispanic-American. This is because the probabilities of paternity depend on the frequencies of different genetic markers in databases based on these races. We can still perform paternity tests with family members from other races, but calculations become more conservative and may possibly result in probabilities of paternity of less than 99.999%, although this is unlikely if all 15 genetic markers in the father match.