Costs Involved in In-Home DNA Paternity Testing

A few hundred dollars (or even less) and a week's time is all that it takes to establish paternity these days, thanks to the massive advancements in science and technology that have made it possible to establish paternity 100% accurately and at an amazingly low cost. Not so long ago these tests were out of reach for a common man. This article explores the various kinds of tests available and the cost involved.

Do-It-Yourself or In-Home Paternity Tests

The cost of in-home paternity tests has been reduced drastically over the past few years. What was sold once available for $500 and upwards, is now sold for as less as $100. Many testing companies affiliate themselves with accredited labs to offer test kits free of cost. Though only the test kit material and the postage-paid return mails are free, the actual DNA testing process in the lab is not free.

The cost to conduct a paternity test with regular service on the child, mother and the man in question is in the range of $100 to $200. Multiply this number by two or in some cases three to get a faster turnaround, which is one business day, to get the results.

Viability Testing

There may be instances where the alleged father may not be available for the paternity testing due to various reasons ranging from being missing or dead and this is when a Viability Paternity test comes in to play. This DNA testing process, where the typical sample collection is not available, makes use of the preserved blood, hair or any tissue to extract the DNA codes to establish paternity. In the worst case of the above samples not being available then parents of the alleged father will be tested. A grand-parentage test usually expensive and can be conducted with a mother's sample for $600 to $800 dollars. The cost will increase even more if the mother is not known.

Legally Binding Tests
It is far more expensive to conduct a Paternity test that has a legal binding compared to that of test conducted purely for personal information, or commonly called as peace of mind tests. The simple reason being, for a paternity test to be legally admissible in a court of law it has to strictly adhere to the chain of custody process right from collecting samples to providing results.

Prenatal Tests

It is possible to conduct a paternity test even before a child is born. This is possible as right from conception the DNA resides within our cells. Here again the accuracy and probability of the test results will be the same. It is highly advisable to wait until childbirth and conduct a post natal test if there are any complications involved in the pregnancy, as the prenatal testing process makes use of invasive procedures that could put both fetus and the mother at risk.

The process used in a prenatal test, which is normally done between the 14^th and 24^th week, is called Amniocentesis. The procedure here is to extract, with the help of a long needle, a small amount of amniotic fluid that surrounds the fetus. This extract is then used to test the DNA in the cells within the collected fluid.

Chorionic Villus sampling (CVS) is another type of prenatal test. Unlike the normal prenatal test, this test can be done during the 10th and 13th week. There are two ways to collect sample in this process. Either a needle is inserted into the abdomen to extract cells from the developing placenta, or the procedure can also be done vaginally.

The average cost of $500 for a prenatal test excluding the doctor's fee which can be in the range of $500 to $1500 makes it the most expensive of all paternity tests available in the market today.