Establishing paternity is an important part of proving that a relationship exists between a man and a child. In Michigan, a man may be asked to submit to genetic testing in order to demonstrate or disprove his affiliation with a child. If he is found to be the child’s biological father, then he may be required to provide his child with support and offer other care to the child.

However, not every positive paternity result that is established in a laboratory is correct. It is possible for mistakes to be made during the evaluation of a potential father-child relationship. It is important to understand some of the ways that errors may flaw the results of paternity tests.

Human error can impact the results of a paternity test. An individual involved in the testing of genetic materials may inadvertently mix the samples up with those of another test subject, or may contaminate genetic samples with foreign materials prior to evaluation. Intentional actions can also skew test results, such as when individuals who tamper with genetic testing may change the results of those tests.

If a man is infertile and is found to be a child’s biological father based on genetic testing, he may have grounds to challenge the results due to his incapacity to father children. These are only some of the ways that paternity tests can be affected by the accidental and intentional actions of others. Anyone who has these types of concerns may need to get more information about the family law options that may potentially be available.