DNA testing can be basically defined as the close relation between two people, the child and the father, child an mother, siblings, and even aunts/uncles to nieces/nephews. But it hinges on the condition of matching the two DNA samples. It cannot be done, if one of the DNA samples is not available for DNA testing. In some conditions it becomes impossible as the parent is not available for some reasons or he is deceased.
Reasons for DNA testing when parent is deceased
The DNA testing becomes a necessity, when a wealthy parent is deceased and it is necessary to prove the paternity to inherit the estate of the deceased person. It is difficult because one of the persons is
deceased and most often the body is interred or buried so it is difficult to conduct the parental testing. It is often said that the truth gets buried with the deceased person, but as the DNA testing technology is getting advanced, now it cannot be said as the truth because now the science has several methods to find out the truth. There are several DNA testing which you can conduct the parental testing for determining the relationship with the deceased person.
- You can compare the DNA testing samples with the other persons of the family if the father is deceased and determine the extent of the relationship between the child and the other relations like siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nephews and nieces and other persons of the family. If you don’t want to use this method for DNA testing samples, there are other methods of determining the relationship.
- If the father is deceased not more than a week, and his things like the toothbrush, comb or used tissue papers are still around, you can take DNA sample from these things and conduct the parental testing by comparing them with the child’s DNA samples. Just check that the DNA testing Lab is equipped for such a parental test (there is a table of discreet samples accepted in our “Secret DNA Testing” article). The problem you are likely to face is the inadequate amount of the DNA sample to conduct the accurate parental testing.
- If the father is deceased and the body has not been interred or buried yet, you can take the necessary permission and extract the fingernails or the hair samples from the body and conduct the paternity testing from such a sample with the concerned child’s DNA sample. But you will have to make sure that the particular DNA testing lab which is chosen by you has the necessary facility for conducting the parental testing.
- The last resort of the DNA testing is to exhume the body to conduct the DNA testing. As this is very costly method of doing the DNA testing, you should take advice from the forensic pathology specialist before taking this step. Also if the death has happened long ago, you can take the sample of 2 grams from the femur of the body to conduct the DNA testing. If the body was cremated, then you cannot use this method.
So, you can still conduct the DNA test when the parent is deceased and there are many alternatives available to you. Be sure to realize that the testing may or may not be admissible in court, depending on if it in done in a Chain of Custody manner or not. If you need the DNA test results for a legal proceeding, simply contact the testing center before placing your order to be sure that you are getting precisely what you need.
DNA Testing Deceased Parent is a post from: DNA Testing and Paternity Testing Guide
