Editing DNA paternity testing (section)

===United States===
In the [[United States]], paternity testing is entirely legal, and fathers may test their children without the consent or knowledge of the mother. Paternity testing take-home kits are readily available for purchase, though their results are not admissible in court and are for personal knowledge only.

Only a court-ordered paternity test may be used as evidence in court proceedings. If parental testing is being submitted for legal purposes, including immigration, testing must be ordered through a lab that has [[AABB]] accreditation for relationship DNA testing.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aabb.org/Content/Accreditation/Parentage_Testing_Accreditation_Program/AABB_Accredited_Parentage_Testing_Laboratories/|title=Accredited Parentage Testing Facilities|date=18 February 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060218003033/http://www.aabb.org/Content/Accreditation/Parentage_Testing_Accreditation_Program/AABB_Accredited_Parentage_Testing_Laboratories/|archive-date=18 February 2006}}</ref>

The legal implications of a parentage result test vary by state and according to whether the putative parents are unmarried or married. If a parentage test does not meet forensic standards for the state in question, a court-ordered test may be required for the results of the test to be admissible for legal purposes. For unmarried parents, if a parent is currently receiving child support or custody, but DNA testing later proves that the man is not the father, support automatically stops. However, in many states, this testing must be performed during a narrow window of time if a voluntary acknowledgment of parentage form has already been signed by the putative father; otherwise, the results of the test may be disregarded by law, and in many cases, a man may be required to pay child support, though the child is biologically unrelated. In a few states, if the mother is receiving the support, then that alleged father has the right to file a lawsuit to get back any money that he lost from paying support. As of 2011, in most states, unwed parents confronted with a voluntary acknowledgment of parentage form are informed of the possibility and right to request a DNA paternity test. If testing is refused by the mother, the father may not be required to sign the [[birth certificate]] or the voluntary acknowledgement of parentage form for the child. For wedded putative parents, the husband of the mother is presumed to be the father of the child. But, in most states, this presumption can be overturned by the application of a forensic paternity test; in many states, the time for overturning this presumption may be limited to the first few years of the child's life.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Townsend |first=Zachary |date=2023-12-28 |title=Voluntary Acknowledgement of Paternity |url=https://prolegalcare.com/voluntary-acknowledgement-of-paternity/ |access-date=2025-04-19 |website=Pro Legal Care LLC |language=en-US}}</ref>