Sibling DNA Testing
Are you curious about your family roots? Have you wondered if you have siblings you’ve never met? Sibling DNA tests offer an amazing way to unlock answers and potentially create connections that last a lifetime. Let’s explore the types of sibling tests, their uses, and how the process works.
What is a Sibling DNA Test?
- Sibling DNA tests examine shared genetic markers between two or more individuals. They reveal with high accuracy whether you share both parents (full siblings), one parent (half-siblings), or have no biological connection.
- These tests are scientifically sound tools for uncovering hidden family links. They are often used to determine if a family rumor or ancestry report is accurate.
Who Would Benefit from a Sibling DNA Test?
- Adoptees: Siblingship tests are popular with adoptees wanting to connect with biological siblings or learn more about their ancestry.
- Uncertain Parentage: In cases of unknown fathers, potential fathers can be confirmed or excluded using this type og genetic testing.
- Inheritance or Immigration: For inheritance claims or immigration processes, a sibling DNA test can solidify your claim as a rightful beneficiary or facilitate family reunification.
- Building a Family Tree: Whether it’s due to incomplete records, adoption, or other gaps in family history, sibling analysis offer a path to expand your family tree.
- Paternity Establishment: Determining the biological father of a child for legal purposes such as child support, custody, visitation rights, or inheritance claims.
- Child Custody and Support: Resolving disputes related to child custody and support by establishing biological parentage, which can influence legal responsibilities and rights.
- Social Security Benefits: Providing evidence of familial relationships to qualify for social security benefits or survivor benefits.
- Name Change Proceedings: Verifying biological relationships as part of name change proceedings, especially when there are disputes or uncertainties regarding parentage.
- Surrogacy Agreements: Confirming biological parentage in cases of surrogacy arrangements to ensure legal rights and responsibilities are appropriately assigned.
- Insurance Claims: Providing evidence of biological relationships for insurance claims, particularly in cases where beneficiaries need to be identified or contested.
- Legal Disputes: Resolving legal disputes, such as those related to guardianship, paternity fraud accusations, or contested adoptions, where establishing biological parentage is crucial for legal proceedings.
- Court Orders: Compliance with court orders or legal requirements for sibling DNA testing as part of legal proceedings, including criminal investigations or court-mandated paternity tests.
Choosing Your Sibling DNA Test: At-Home vs. Legal
- At-Home: Convenient and private. Simple collection kits let you take DNA samples at home. These are great for satisfying personal curiosity but results aren’t usable in court.
- Legal: Court-admissible DNA results for official matters like inheritance, immigration, or child custody. Samples are collected with strict ‘chain-of-custody’ procedures, and labs follow legal-grade testing protocols.
How Does a Sibling Test Work?
- Genetic Comparison: Everyone inherits roughly 50% of their DNA from each parent. Our laboratory analyzes 24 specific DNA segments to see how much you share with another potential sibling. If we cannot obtain a strong enough finding, we will examine additional DNA markers, at no additional cost, for the strongest findings. When possible (not required), we encourage a mother’s participation to eliminate her DNA from the sibling(s) she is the biological parent of. This allows for a review of only the suspected father’s DNA.
- Accuracy: Sibling DNA tests offer accurate insights into sibling relationships. While not a “yes” or “no” like direct paternity testing, we provide you an accurate answer every time. AABB, the gold standard in DNA lab accreditation, and our lab holds, states that anything over 91% verifies the relationship with certainty. A common misconceptions is that accuracy and probability are the same, when they are not. The probability we provide is 100% accurate.
- Test Types:
- Full vs. Half Sibling: Determines if two people share one or both biological parents. If both of those testing as siblings have the same mother, then a full sibling test is done. If they have different mother’s then a half sibling vs. no sibling relationship test is completed.
- Grandparent DNA Test: TThis study uses the suspected parent’s mother or father instead of the parent. This type of testing can be done with one grandparent and one child. If the results confirm a grandparent-grandchild relationship, it can be determined that the biological son of the grandparent is the father and siblingship can be verified.
- Avuncular Testing: You can also uses an aunt or uncle’s DNA instead of a suspected parent, if they are not available. The aunt or uncle must be a full brother or sister of the suspected father.
How to Get a Sibling DNA Test
Journey Genetic Testing makes it easy for you to get the DNA testing you need. You can order directly online 24/7/365 in a secure and safe online order form, or you can speak to one of our Genetic Consultants at 1-855-362-5224.
- Home Sibling DNA Test Kit – $129. Includes two participants to determine their sibling relationship, and a mother’s DNA is included at no additional cost. Kits are shipped USPS Priority with a prepaid overnight return label. Results are ready in two business days after we get the DNA samples.
- Legal Sibling Test – $299. Includes two individuals to determine if they are full, half, or have no sibling relationship, and a mother’s DNA is included at no additional cost. The cost also includes the DNA collection appointment, overnight shipping of the DNA samples to our lab, and legally admissible notarized results in two business days. Click here to learn more about a legally admissible sibling test.
You may order your test with a credit or debit card, PayPal, or with low monthly payments through our finance partner Affirm. Choose the option that is best for you when on our secure order form.
Begin Your Discovery Journey
Sibling DNA tests open doors to uncover unknown connections or confirm what you have always suspected. It’s a transformative process, full of both possibilities and potential emotional discoveries. If you have additional questions, one of our Genetic Consultants will be glad to assist you. Call us at or send us an email at info@dna-paternity-testing.com.
Sibling Testing Frequently Asked Questions
Here are the questions we are most often asked about siblingship testing. If you have questions that are not answered here, please reach out to us. We will always provide you direct and honest answers, and if we can’t help you, we may be be able to refer you to a company that can.
The results of a sibling test are shown as a probability percentage. This indicates whether the genetic profiles acquired can confirm the presence of a relationship. Results demonstrating a probability of 91% or higher are deemed as definitive proof that the relationship exists. Conversely, a probability of less than 9% establishes that the genetic evidence does not support the existence of the relationship. The statistics we show are guaranteed to be 100% accurate.
The answer is “Yes” in almost every situation. A sibling DNA test can determine which brother is the biological father of a child, if you include the DNA of the mother. Every child has genetic contributions (46 chromosomes) 23 chromosomes from the mother and 23 chromosomes from the father.
Yes, our DNA test can prove you are half siblings. In fact, DNA testing is the most scientific and accurate way to prove that two or more individuals are biologically related. Half-siblings share only one biological parent, either the mother or father.
We offer AABB accredited legal sibling testing which is valid in cases for child support, parenting time, birth certificate name changes, probate, and wills, as well as many other legal circumstances. A legally admissible DNA test requires some extra steps, however the final results will be the same.
It depends. Since half siblings share 25% of the same DNA, and first cousins share 12.5%. Depending on if a mother’s DNA is available to test as well, there may be other testing options that would give stronger results. In these situations we encourage you to talk with one of our Genetic Consultants at 1-855-362-5224, or email us at info@dna-paternity-testing.com and we can offer advice on your unique situation.
Yes! Some commonly used items that are not a mouth swab include ear wax, hair, mucous on a tissue, finger or toe nail clippings, and toothbrushes. This may be a good option if the other person is not available for testing, or it is too difficult to approach them directly for a DNA sample. You can learn more about these “non-standard” DNA samples by clicking on Alternative DNA Samples, or call us a 1-855-362-5224.
If you place your order before 2:00 PM PST, we will ship the same business day. We will send you a sterile DNA collection kit by Priority mail and email you a USPS tracking number. We ship Monday through Friday to physical addresses in the USA. Orders received after 2:00 PM PST ship the following business day. Depending on your location, USPS delivers Priority mail within 1-3 business days.
Once the lab has all of the samples available for sibling testing, we will have the results for you in 2 business days in almost every single case. We perform all DNA tests for siblings twice, to validate the findings. We do not charge any extra fees for this service.
You can still do DNA testing without a mother’s DNA. We can still proceed, but we might need to examine more genetic markers. We begin with 24 markers, but sometimes we use up to 46 for stronger results. We’ll determine the need to add markers during testing. Additional markers might take an extra lab day, but no extra charge. These added markers aim for the best results. Your results will be 100% accurate with, or without, the mother’s DNA.
Yes. When submitting your test order just indicate that you need more that the one DNA kit that is already included. If those being tested live close enough to get togther to collect their DNA samples, then only one kit is needed. If getting together isn’t possible, the we can send identical kit(s) to the other participant(s). Each kit will have identical case numbers, and the specimens are matched in lab by both the case number, as well as the names given on the order form. Each kit will also have a prepaid overnight label included (USA addresses) and we wil notify you once all samples have arrived and testing begins.