Paternity Testing Without the Father? The Aunt/Uncle Avuncular DNA Test Explained

Do you want to know if someone is a relative but the father is unwilling or unavailable to participate in a DNA test? You're not alone! There is an alternative method of testing that is easy and relatively inexpensive with Paternity-USA.

Aunt/Uncle Avuncular DNA Testing refers to A DNA relationship test between an Aunt or Uncle and an alleged Niece or Nephew. This type of DNA test is most commonly performed when a father is not available for a Paternity test, but his brother or sister is willing to test with the child.

A true Paternity test is the only method to get a guaranteed conclusive DNA test result. Paternity test results are 99.99 percent positive or 0 percent negative. If the father isn't available for testing however, the Avuncular DNA Test offers an effective solution. With the mother included in an Avuncular test, the results commonly are in the 90 percentile range if it is more likely a relationship exists, or in the very low teens or single-digit percentile range if it is less likely.

Since we are all made up of half of our DNA from our mother and the other half of our DNA from our father, the Avuncular test does not yield the same result a Paternity test or Maternity test would. It is to your advantage to include the Niece or Nephew's mother in the test. That way, the geneticists at the lab can compare the mother and child's DNA, and eliminate the mother's genes from the target's genetic profile. This will allow the focus to be only on the genes that the father donated to the child; and comparing that to the father's sibling will produce a much more conclusive result.

If the mother is not available for testing, the test can still be performed without her. The result may not be as conclusive, but may be conclusive enough to give you the satisfaction that there is or is not a biological relationship that exists. Alternatively, it may bring sufficient evidence to prompt further discussions with additional family members that may also be willing to participate in further testing. The mother can also be added to the test after-the-fact. Oftentimes, the parties feel it best to not involve the mother in the beginning, as it could be a sensitive subject. Adding the mother to an Avuncular DNA test could alter the results significantly.

Additionally, it is imperative that the aunt or uncle being tested is a full-sibling to the father, meaning that they share BOTH of the same parents. Otherwise, the result will virtually be inconclusive.

Basically, an Avuncular test through Paternity-USA will give a result in the form of a percentage. What happens is that the percentage pendulum starts at 50% and moves to a higher percentage if it is more likely that a true biological Aunt/Uncle relationship exists, and goes lower if it is less likely that the biological relationship exists.

In addition to Aunt/Uncle Avuncular DNA Testing, there are other relationships that can be tested. Another type of Avuncular DNA test is the Grandparent DNA Test. The Grandparent test is performed between a grandparent and grandchild. As with the Aunt-Uncle test, it is beneficial to add the mother to this test as well. More information on the Grandparent DNA test can be found in my other articles.