paternityexpress.com

It is becoming more and more import to have a father sign and document that a child is truly his biological child while he is alive and able to speak and act for himself.  Tragedy doesn’t give us warnings when it is about to strike, and many mothers, especially single mothers, are caught in a situation where legal paternity of a child was not established (i.e., the father of their child did not have his name put on their child’s birth certificate thus publicly declaring that he fathered their child) and he dies suddenly.  They are rudely awakened when they find out how important it is when they visit their local Social Security Office and are told that their child “is not” the deceased person’s child and they do not have proof to say otherwise.  Although they know it for sure; they must prove it to the authorities.  Because they really do not have any proof . . . even when members of the deceased man’s family may provide them affidavits that the deceased acknowledged to them that he fathered the child; they must provide some material proof such as a DNA paternity test which provides indisputable proof, provided the DNA test was done following the strict “chain of custody” method.  If you ever find yourself in this situation . . .

Don’t panic, paternity testing may still be performed if the mother wishes and is willing to do a few things to help her situation.  If the deceased person died suddenly or as a result of a crime, an accident, suicide, or long illness or if he died in a hospital, it is likely that an autopsy was performed.  A blood card or other suitable forensic specimen may be obtained from the hospital, or medical examiner / coroner who performed an autopsy on the deceased.  The hospital, coroner, or medical examiner can provide the necessary chain-of-custody documentation by completing and signing a few documents which attests to the collection of and the unbroken chain of custody of samples being turned over to a lab for DNA testing; most testing labs will even provide these forms.  Of course, the mother and the next of kin of the deceased would need to complete a few documents requesting the hospital, coroner / medical examiner turn over a “blood card” or qualifying “forensic sample” from which a DNA profile of the alleged father may be taken for comparison with the child.  They also must sign documents giving the testing lab the authority to do the DNA paternity test between the deceased samples and the child in question.  The child’s DNA samples also must be collected using the strict chain-of-custody method in order for the lab to issue a “legal” paternity report which may be presented to Social Security and also is admissible in court.

Even when the family refuses to give permission for the mother to get a sample of the deceased’s DNA for testing, the mother can turn to the courts and ask for an order to secure the release of the deceased’s DNA for paternity testing.  Of course she would need to tell the court the purpose for her request and provide proof such as the Social Security documentation which would clearly show that there was a need to prove that the deceased was the biological father of the child presented to Social Security to obtain benefits.

There are other tests which include but are not limited to  family reconstruction, avuncular, and Grandparentage which may provide proof of a child’s paternity, however, nothing beats the alleged father’s direct participation . . . even when it is done post mortem.

Genetic reconstruction is used to determine if a child is related to an alleged father by using two or more of the alleged father’s relatives in the comparison.  A series of DNA tests are conducted in order to make this determination.  It is an indirect way to determine relationship when the alleged father is unavailable to donate his own samples for testing.  Results from generic reconstruction DNA testing can be used in many ways, most prominent of which is proof of Social Security benefits, inheritance claims, and other trust and estates matters.

How is this achieved?

The child’s DNA profile is compared with the family members DNA profiles.  The relatives should be close blood relatives of the alleged father (e.g., brother, sister, mother or father of the alleged father).  For genetic reconstruction, although every person’s DNA profile is unique, close relations will share major similarities of their DNA profiles because DNA is hereditary.  Because reconstruction is complex, the mother of the child is required to participate in the testing.  If she is not available to give her sample, then three or more of the alleged father’s close relatives should participate.  Genetic reconstruction is another way to achieve paternity testing; therefore, avuncular testing and grandparentage testing all fall under the genetic reconstruction umbrella.