The Trouble With Twins

In most cases, a paternity test will be able to tell with accuracy of over 99.99%, if an alleged father is biologically related to a child. In fact, a paternity test can be 100% accurate when it comes to rejecting someone as the father of the child – unless that someone is an identical twin.

When fatherhood is disputed between identical twins, courts, mothers, families and counsellors run into trouble – because there is no way to tell between them.

When A Paternity Test Isn’t Enough

The most recent case of a paternity DNA test involving identical twins was reported in the USA media, when one of a pair of identical twins from Missouri was identified as being the father of a little girl. The twin identified as the father denied paternity and demanded a test – declaring that his twin brother was in fact the father. In this case, a DNA test couldn’t help, as the twins have identical DNA.

Although the mother is convinced that one of the twins is the father, neither of them want to accept responsibility for the child – despite that fact that one is certainly the father and the other an uncle. The judge in the case had to resort to a more old-fashioned way of declaring paternity; believing the mother, and at the moment, the twin she named is currently legally responsible for the child. The irony of this case is that it’s absolutely certain who the little girl’s paternal grandparents are – and they get to see her on a regular basis.

Twin Testing

Twin testing is not paternity testing. A twin DNA test will essentially compare the profiles of two individuals to confirm whether the profiles are identical or not. A twin test will confirm whether siblings are monozygotic or dizygotic. Identical twins will have identical DNA profiles whilst non-identical twins will have similar profiles but not identical. A paternity test compares the DNA of an alleged father and child to confirm a match – if the profiles match, then the tested father is the biological father of the child.

Not Unique

A similar case was reported in 2004, where a mother in Canada claimed to have had sex with identical twins on the same day. The child from the resulting pregnancy has grown up with one of the twins as his father – albeit estranged once the couple had split up. The twin who thought he was the father went to court to gain access to his son, the mother alleged that she had slept with both twins. A paternity test would not prove either the mother’s or the alleged father’s points, as the twins’ DNA is identical. Again, the judge ruled the case based on non-DNA evidence.

International Biosciences offers two types of paternity tests

Peace of mind paternity testing can be carried out with the mother’s DNA sample or even without the mother’s sample. International Biosciences offers both these testing options.

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