Formatting refreshed October 5, 2026. Originally published January 31, 2017. This refresh updates the presentation; historical references and article content remain as originally published.

There are occasions when a paternity test needs to be conducted and the assumed father is not available for testing due to a variety of reasons such as death, imprisonment, refusal to provide a specimen or other circumstances. Death of the assumed father is really the only instance where a DNA sample may not be available as a court order could remedy most other types of instances. In such cases when the assumed father is not available to collect a DNA specimen or a specimen is not available, there are a few other types of DNA tests that can be conducted to determine paternity of a child.

Grandparentage Tests

The best option when the father is not available for testing is to have DNA specimens collected from the mother and father of the assumed father – that is both of the child’s biological, paternal grandparents. If only one paternal grandparent is available, then the mother of the child should provide a specimen as well to provide more accurate results. Testing of the grandparents to determine paternity is a relationship based test commonly referred to as a grandparentage test.

Avuncular Tests

When the paternal grandparents are not available for testing, the next option would be to collect a DNA specimen from a paternal uncle or aunt of the child along with the mother of the child. Specifically, this a biological brother or sister of the assumed father. Siblings share about 50% of their DNA with each other which means an uncle or aunt would share about 25% of their DNA with the child.   Using an accredited laboratory for avuncular testing is of utmost importance to ensure accurate, reliable results.

Siblingship Tests

One final option to determine paternity is to conduct a siblingship test with a known biological child of the assumed father. This test will determine if two individuals share one or both parents. It will need to be noted if the assumed siblings share the same biological mother or not prior to testing being performed. If they share the same mother, the test would be considered a full-siblingship test, whereas if they do not share the same mother, the test is referred to as a half-sibingship test.

Carolina Testing performs all of the above tests in the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina area and serves the entire Grand Strand region including Horry, Georgetown, Marion, Florence and Dillon counties. With a network of collection site partners nationwide, we can facilitate DNA specimen collections locally, and nationally.  Form more information, please call or text 843-972-3287 or CLICK HERE

Formatting refreshed October 5, 2026. Originally published April 5, 2016. This refresh updates the presentation; historical references and article content remain as originally published.

The 5 Things You Should Know About DNA Paternity Testing

Genetic paternity testing dates back as far as the 1920s when blood types were compared in order to determine relationships between parent and child. Although not very effective and primarily inconclusive, this was the beginning of genetic testing as we know it. In the 1960s, a new genetic test with a 80% success rate using the Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) system was develpoped and used to determine paternity for many years. In the 1980s DNA testing, boasting a 99.999% accuracy rate was discovered and has been the gold standard in paternity testing ever since. Aside form the historical facts of genetic testing, the 5 most important things you need to know regarding DNA Paternity Testing are the following:

1. Do It Yourself (DIY) vs. Legal Paternity Testing

Do It Yourself or DIY tests allow for buccal cheek swab specimen collections that are collected by yourself, at your leisure and privacy. The specimens collected are then sent to a laboratory for analysis and testing. Results are typically mailed or emailed to the person submitting the specimens within a week or two. It is critically important to note that DIY tests are not legally admissible in a court of law for any reason and are only beneficial for your own personal knowledge.

Legal Paternity Testing is also a buccal cheek swab collection. The specimen is collected by a third party professional following strict chain of custody guidelines and procedures which provide legally admissible results that can be used for child support, inheritance, social welfare benefits, immigration, or adoption purposes. To satisfy the chain of custody legal requirements, all tested parties are properly identified using state or federal identification, birth certificates and/or social security cards. Copies of identification and photographs of the subjects are collected at the time of the specimen collection. Specimens are sent to the laboratory via courier service that tracks the specimen from the collection site to the lab where two independent teams of DNA analysts run every legal DNA test twice. Results are verified and certified by a trained scientist with a PhD degree and then notarized before reporting the results to the parties tested in 3-5 days.

While legal paternity tests are more expensive, it is usually worth the extra cost if the results will possibly ever be needed to be legally admissible.

2. Pre-Natal Paternity Testing

Until recently, the only way to determine paternity before a child is born was through a very uncomfortable and invasive procedure to collect the child’s DNA through amniocentesis or CVS sample which could present the risk of miscarriage. Now a revolutionary, non-invasive pre-natal paternity test can determine paternity before the child is born with a simple blood draw specimen collected from the mother after at least 9 weeks of gestation. The standard buccal swab collection is collected from the alleged father. Specimens are collected, packaged and sent to the laboratory for extensive testing with certified results returned within 7-10 days. This type of test provides peace of mind and closure to any paternity related questions before the child is born allowing parents to focus on the baby and not the questions.

3. What If The Alleged Father Can’t Be Tested?

Sometimes, the alleged father is unable or unwilling to be tested. In these cases, the alleged father’s mother and/or father (grandparentage test) may be tested to determine paternity of the child. Specimen collection is the standard buccal swab cheek collection fro all parties and provides certified results within 7-10 days.

4. Does The Mother Need To Be Tested For A Paternity Test?

The short answer is no. However, having a specimen collected from the mother will allow for faster and more accurate determination of paternity – especially in the case of a grandparentage test or if there is more than one alleged father who may be biologically related, such as brothers. In any case, there is never any additional fees to have the mother’s specimen collection unless there is a need to test for maternity.

5. What If The Alleged Father Lives Out of State?

Certified collection sites for DNA Paternity Testing are available worldwide and collections can be arranged with any willing party anywhere. Additional fees and longer turnaround times may result, but the testing is still quite possible.

Carolina Testing is a certified DNA collection facility located at 1709 Husted Rd Ste. #2 in Conway, SC. For more information about DNA Paternity or other genetic testing services, please contact them at 843-972-3287 or info@carolinatesting.com

Formatting refreshed October 5, 2026. Originally published August 19, 2017. This refresh updates the presentation; historical references and article content remain as originally published.

We were high school sweethearts destined to be together forever. He set off for the Army and I set off for college. We parted ways for four long years, always trying to keep our relationship close throughout. Despite our best efforts, there was the occasional misstep that took our relationship into dangerous territory during these years apart as we both took the opportunity to explore other “interests.” Rest assured, that when we were able to reconnect, we did so with renewed passion and excitement. We married in 2012, got pregnant on the honeymoon and had our first son in June 2013. Our daughter was born in September 2014 and our second son, who was not exactly planned, was born in January 2016.

Jim and I had a good marriage and a wonderful family life with three wonderful, happy, healthy children. There was, however, a nagging question from Jim overshadowing the birth of our second son. You see, during the summer of 2015 I reconnected with some college friends for a weekend getaway in the mountains and we had a great mini-reunion. Old roommates, friends (including a past fling) were all there and we all had a great time. I shared everything about the weekend with Jim – including who was there. Shortly after that weekend, I found out I was pregnant and shared the exciting and unexpected news with Jim.

A year after our second son was born, the questions started floating. Our first two children had beautiful blonde hair, but our third child’s hair remained darker brown – even after a year. Jim would jokingly say that he was not the father of our third son – pointing out how he looked nothing like him. He was right. Our son looked much more like my side of the family. One night, my husband confided in me that he really was wondering if our third child was really his. He confessed that he had wondered if I had another “fling” during that summer reunion in 2015. He didn’t want to think that because he loved and trusted me so much and I had never given him reason not to trust me. Sure, we both experimented during our four years apart, but we came right back together perfectly and we were completely open about everything. The thought just kept creeping back into his head and he couldn’t shake it. At first I was hurt and kind of angry that he would even think for a moment that I would ever cheat on him, but then I realized that he had been struggling with this for quite some time and it was starting to effect our marriage.

That’s when I took action. I knew the truth and had nothing to worry about, but I had to put his concerns to rest – for his sake and for the sake of our marriage. I called and scheduled a DNA paternity test to be conducted the next day. I asked the person at the clinic how long the results took and they said that we would have the results in 3-5 business days. They explained the testing process to me and answered all of my questions.

On the third day following the testing, we received the official results from the laboratory.   Jim took one look at the results, laughed, shook his head, kissed me and apologized for letting those crazy ideas get into his head. Then he proudly announced that he knew it all along – after all, they both had brown eyes…

Sure, I could have gotten mad, defensive and argued my case, but there would have always been lingering unanswered questions. Taking that DNA paternity test was the best investment in my marriage that I could have ever made.