Are you unsure of who the father of your baby is? That’s okay. DNA testing has come so far in the last few years that you can easily find out without causing any issues with your child before they are born. If it’s just out of curiosity, then you shouldn’t have any problems. But if you need the test results to prove who should take care of the baby, you’ll need to get a legal paternity test.

What is a legal paternity test?

Legal paternity tests are those that are admissible in court and can be used for legal purposes. For example, discovering who can have custody of the baby, who pays child maintenance, immigration reasons, inheritance disputes, name changes, and much more. Tests that aren’t done legally, can’t be used as evidence in a court case. This can cause trouble for whoever ordered the test and jeopardize the child’s well-being.

When can paternity tests be done?

It’s now possible to do a paternity test while pregnant. Before, you would have to wait until the baby was born. But now it can be done with a safe procedure that is non-invasive. This means that there is no danger to the baby’s health at all. The paternity test can be performed from around seven weeks after the pregnancy began.

How and where is a prenatal paternity test performed?

The blood of the fetus mixes freely with the mother’s blood. This is how scientists can read the DNA of the baby without entering the placenta. A blood sample is taken from the mother and a saliva swab is taken from the potential father. The baby’s DNA profile is compared to the father’s. If they’re a match, then the father is confirmed. If not, then the mother will need to contact another potential father and try again. You need to go to a certified clinic to get a legal paternity test. They are the best option because the samples will be taken and compared in a safe environment with very little chance of cross-contamination with other samples. Also, these are the only tests that can be used in court. You can get a home DNA test and take the samples yourself, but there is a bigger chance of there being an issue with contamination. This is why they cannot be used in legal disputes.