Legal Paternity Testing Starting at $195

For legal paternity test results to be considered for court or other official use, two basic requirements generally apply: the testing laboratory must meet recognized AABB accreditation standards, and the sample collection must follow documented chain-of-custody procedures. For that reason, legal collection materials should be sent directly to the approved collection site, such as a doctor’s office or clinic, rather than to a participant.

A legal paternity test must also be collected by an authorized third party, typically a medical professional and, in some cases, another approved collector depending on the requirements of the case. With PaternityUSA, you may use your doctor for sample collection or schedule collection through one of our network clinic locations. Collection by a friend, family member, or other interested party may cause the results to be rejected for legal use.

We strictly follow established legal DNA testing procedures designed to protect the integrity of the collection, documentation, and final report. Each case is handled carefully and confidentially so that your results are prepared according to legal testing requirements.

What is Chain of Custody?

Chain of custody is the documented process used to verify who provided each DNA sample, when the samples were collected, and how they were handled from collection through laboratory receipt. For a legal paternity test, samples must be collected by an approved third-party collector who checks identification, witnesses the collection, completes the required paperwork, and sends the samples and documentation to the laboratory according to procedure. We work with more than 4,000 collection locations nationwide to help make this process convenient.

Testing is performed by an AABB-accredited laboratory and reviewed under established laboratory procedures. Our goal is to provide accurate relationship-testing results together with the documentation required for legal DNA testing.

We Also Provide Informational DNA Paternity Testing

If you do not need results for court or an official matter, an informational home paternity test may be the better option. The laboratory analysis is comparable, but informational testing does not include the chain-of-custody collection and documentation required for legal use.

DNA Collection

Samples are typically collected with a painless cheek swab. To support quality control, testing procedures include repeat review or confirmatory laboratory checks as required by the laboratory’s protocol. Before collection, participants should avoid eating, drinking, smoking, or chewing gum for the recommended time period and should follow the collector’s instructions.

When The Father Is Deceased

If the alleged father is deceased, first check whether a retained tissue or blood sample may be available through the coroner, medical examiner, hospital, or another authorized source. Our case managers can review the available specimen type and discuss whether direct postmortem testing or another legal relationship test may be appropriate.

When a direct paternity test can be performed, it is usually the most informative option. However, if a direct sample is not available, legal sibling, grandparent or avuncular Aunt-Uncle DNA testing may be considered depending on the family members available for testing.

Fully Accredited USA Lab

All legal DNA tests are performed in partner U.S. AABB-accredited USA lab and reviewed by PhD geneticists. Testing is CLIA-certified for reliability, and AABB accredited for court admissibility.  Moreover all legal DNA tests adhere to AABB Standards for Relationship Testing Laboratories (17th edition effective January 1, 2026).