The paternity test starts by examining certain DNA sections in the child that are inherited from the mother, in order to determine whether the remaining half matches the putative father's DNA. If there is no match, paternity is ruled out.
After the analysis of an adequate number of DNA segments (not less than 15-20), also called genetic loci, and full match is detected, probability values are obtained.
A paternity test can only indicate probabilities, even if they are sometimes very high, often >99,9999%. In this case, paternity is “practically proven”.
See also under Results.
“There are two possible types of results
of a paternity test: paternity ruled out with 100% reliability or practically proven paternity
(when the test result is higher than 99.99%)”
