Legal Sibling DNA Testing $245

Smaller companies who advertise cheap DNA testing allow participants to choose their own collector. Surprisingly, they even mail the collection kit right to the client. Please beware – this practice does not follow AABB chain of custody requirements. Their cheap sibling DNA test can end up being very costly to your family down the road.

It’s a direct violation of AABB requirements for anyone associated with the legal sibling test to be in the possession of the collection kit. This includes any test participant, family members or friends. When collection swabs have been in the possession of someone with an interest in the test result, there could easily be suspicion of tampering. For this reason, we never ship a legal DNA collection kit to anyone other than a doctor’s office or clinic performing the sample collection.

Secondly, a legally binding sibling test must be collected by a medical or clinic professional. With PaternityUSA.com, you can use your doctor for the DNA collection or opt for professional collection service at one of our more than 4,000 network clinic locations. Again, having someone known to the test participant act as a collector, or “witness” the DNA collection, does not meet AABB standards. A collection by an associate, friend or family member can easily be discredited; causing you to have to pay for another test.

A legal test conducted outside of the chain of custody is easily contested and disputed in court; and more importantly will not stand up as evidence.

In contrast, we don’t bend guidelines and risk injuring your case. The accredited lab we work with follows every AABB requirement to help ensure your result stands up in any legal matter facing your family. We understand the need for a legal DNA test is usually accompanied by an emotionally taxing burden. With that in mind, we handle every case with care and confidentiality.

What Makes a Test Legally Admissible?

The AABB guidelines stipulate that legal sibling testing must have a valid chain of custody to be admissible in court or accepted for use in any legal matter. Chain of custody, simply put, refers to a DNA collection in the presence of a medical professional and the legal identification and consent of the test participants. In any legal siblingship test case, a neutral medical professional who is not involved with the outcome of the test must perform the sample collection.

Our partner lab is staffed by top-notch PhD geneticists who oversee all tests using the most advanced, state of the art testing technology. In reality, many smaller labs are not really AABB accredited; they only claim to be. They sell you a legal DNA test, then when samples are sent in, they forward them to another lab (of their choosing) for processing. This extra step takes longer and risks the viability of your DNA. With PaternityUSA, your test samples go directly from the clinic to our AABB accredited partner laboratory.

Half Sibling DNA Testing or Full Sibling DNA Testing

A full sibling DNA test will assume there is one known parent in common and test to see if both parents are shared. The half sibling DNA test analysis will assume one parent is different and test to see if one parent is shared. If you are not sure whether the mother and or father are shared, performing both a full and half sibling test will give the most complete picture of the relationship and let you know whether one, both or no parents are in common with the other tested individual(s).

We Also Provide Informational Sibling DNA Testing

While a legal sibling test results are court admissible, you may simply need a test for your own peace of mind. In this case, our informational sibling DNA test may be best. Whether you choose legally binding or informational sibling DNA testing, rest assured that you are in good hands with PaternityUSA. All sibling test samples are processed using the same strict protocols for legal purposes and personal information. The difference lies only in the chain of custody sample collection method.

Other relationship tests may also help establish paternity or maternity, such as an avuncular test, a grandparentage test with one or both of the alleged parent’s biological parents or a Y-STR analysis with 2 or more tested males. If more than one paternal family member is available, you may want to consider a Family Reconstruction test.

DNA Collection

The collection process is very simple. DNA is collected through a cheek swab, also known as a buccal swab, which is painlessly rubbed against the inside of the cheek. All sibling DNA tests are ran twice. For this reason, we collect multiple swabs per person. As a general rule, be sure the mouth is clean before swabbing by rinsing with water. Test participants should refrain from drinking coffee or tea or smoking for 1-2 hours before the DNA collection.

In cases where a family member may be deceased, depending upon the details surrounding the case, tissue or blood samples from the medical examiner or coroner’s office may be available. Their office should be able to advise you of what is preserved. Once you have established this information, call us to speak with a Case Manager to discuss your situation and how to proceed.

Fully Accredited USA Lab

All legal sibling tests are performed in our partner AABB-accredited USA lab by PhD geneticists with 20+ years of experience. 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).