1. I've heard about DNA testing, but I've also heard terms like red blood grouping tests and HLA testing. Can you give me some information on all of those tests and how they may affect my paternity case?

Let's start with the red blood grouping tests. These are the oldest tests, used only to exclude paternity--not to prove the identity of the father. Everyone has a blood type that can be typed or labeled by a laboratory as type A, B, AB or O. Laboratories can test blood types if the mother, child, and putative father submit samples. The tests can tell us if the child's blood group could not have been inherited from the putative father. For example, if both parents are type A and the child is type AB, then the putative father is excluded. By the way, even if the mother is unavailable for testing, these tests can be done on the putative father and child, and in some cases exclude the man as the father. Let's say the child is type AB, if the putative father is type O, he's excluded.

These results are highly reliable, but if paternity is not excluded, depending on your state's laws and rules of evidence, these test results may not be admissible at trial, unless other genetic marker tests results are also submitted.

2. So, what you're saying is the oldest tests, the red blood grouping tests, could conclusively exclude someone as the father. That would be the end of the case. But if those tests don't exclude the putative father, we have newer tests that may still prove he's the father.

That's correct, and those tests include the HLA tests to "calculate a reliable statistical estimation of paternity," as the court said in the Massachussetts case called Commonwealth v. Beausoleil, 397 Mass. At 210, 490 N.E. 2d at 791 (1986).

3. Can we do testing before the baby is born?

Yes. We can do testing through chorionic villus sampling (CVS) as early as the tenth week of pregnancy or about the fifteenth week with amniocentesis.

4. Who does the DNA testing and who pays?

If you want to submit the results to a court, testing should be done by a laboratory approved by an accreditation body designated by the federal Secretary of Health and Human Services pursuant to Title IV, Part D of the Social Security Act. You can also use a kit and take a saliva sample yourself for testing at an approved laboratory. If you don't want to do it yourself, you can call a laboratory to set up an appointment at a convenient location.

As for payment, the court can order payment by:

The party seeking the testing;
The mother and putative father;
The government agency seeking the testing, unless the putative father is found to be the father, in which event the court usually orders him to reimburse the agency;
The state, if the parents are indigent.

5. How much will it cost?

Test kits cost as little as $50.00, but if you want to present the results in court, you'll need to pay several hundred dollars or more for a laboratory test for an expert witness to use as the basis of her testimony. You may also have to pay the expert several thousand dollars.

6. How long does it take to do the testing and how long will I have to wait for the results?

The test is really simple: all you need to do give swipe cotton swabs on the inside of the mouths of the child, the putative father and mother. You could get the test results in 10 business days or less.

7. How reliable are these tests?

Almost 100 percent.

8. It sounds like blood and DNA test results alone decide paternity. Is that true?

Not always. In some cases judges also ask to see the baby, the mother and the father. After all, if the parents are both Caucasion, and the child is not, that excludes the father. Also some courts examine a man's behavior. For instance, if he asked the mother to marry him or if he voluntarily acknowledged paternity, and also established a substantial relationship with the child by living with her, spending time caring for her and contributing toward her support, the court could say for all legal purposes, he is her father. He would have the same rights and responsibilities as a biological father.