Legal Tests in the UK

Our legal paternity test for alleged father, mother and 1 child starts from £289. Results are emailed within 5 working days from receipt of samples.

For more information about the importance of accreditation click here.

Further Information about a Legal Paternity Test

A legal paternity test result is a sound piece of documentation that you can use to prove that a man has fathered a child. A legal test is different to a home paternity test in the following ways:

 

  • Every person taking part in the legal test must be identified; they must present valid identification documents as proof of identity.
  • Sample collection must be witnessed and testified by a sampler.

Your kit

Our kits are sent directly to the person who will collect the samples. Your paternity testing kit will contain:

 

  • Special forms which need to be signed and filled in by the sampler. Some sections need to also be filled in by the people taking part in the test.*
  • The procedure to follow for the test and the sample collection. All this will be outlined in the instructions we provide.
  • Buccal swabs: a pair of swabs for every person tested.

*Any children being sampled that are under the age of consent in the UK will have their legal parent or guardian sign and fill out their sections of the forms.

The steps that need to be followed are few and simple but integral to the validity of the results of the test. The entire procedure where a sampler is engaged to collect samples and act as testifier is summed up in the phrase “chain of custody”. The following are some important points:

 

  • The sampler is chosen by the test participants themselves (although in some cases the sampler may be appointed by an embassy/consulate or a correctional facility/ prison).
  • The sampler must be unrelated – all possible bias must be thus, eliminated.
  • The sampler must be willing and available to appear in court should they be summoned by the judge (this is unusual but it may happen).
  • The sampler collect samples – no one else but the sampler can touch, handle, palpate or come into contact with the swabs. Once the samples have been collected, it is the sampler who must personally send samples back for testing.

Types of identification accepted include: a passport (British or otherwise), Full British birth certificate, Deaths and Marriages, a certificate of citizenship issued by Immigration and Citizenship Department, Current driving license.

GTL UK cannot unconditionally guarantee acceptance of its legal results by a Family Law court or any other court in the UK. The laboratory testing your samples is a recognized accredited facility and the results of our tests are incontrovertible. However, the judge could refute the results of a paternity test for various reasons depending on the specific case (for example the judge might refute the results if he or she believes that father is unfit to parent). Remember the law courts must always act in the best interests of the child.

Could do with a Home Paternity Test?

Home DNA paternity testing is your first choice when it comes to establishing paternity. We, at GTL UK, suggest legal tests to our clients only if they have already definitively established that they are not the father or have a court order for a paternity test.

Home tests are far quicker than legal tests; they are also cheaper. Additional information about home testing can be found here. You can get a home DNA test starting from as little as £99.


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