Source: UPA (1973) § 11; 42 U.S.C. § 666(a)(5)(B)(ii)(I), see Appendix: Federal IV-D Statute Relating to Parentage, infra; Little v. Streater, 452 U.S. 1, (1981).

In general, the party seeking relief from a court must bear the cost of the initial genetic testing. The federal law mandates that the support enforcement agency pay the cost of testing, subject to recoupment. Subsection (a)(3) does present the possibility that a court might order a respondent to pay the initial cost.

§1907.__Additional genetic testing

The court or the support enforcement agency shall order additional genetic testing upon the request of a party who contests the result of the original testing. If the previous genetic testing identified a man as the father of the child under section 1905, the court or agency may not order additional testing unless the party provides advance payment for the testing.

Comment

(This is section 507 of the UPA.)

Source: UPA (1973) § 11; 42 U.S.C. § 666(a)(5)(B)(ii)(II).

Obviously the opportunity for additional testing should be provided if the original testing is contested in good faith, see Appendix: Federal IV-D Statute Relating to Parentage, infra. The requirement that the contestant provide advance payment if prior testing has identified a man as the father is intended to discourage spurious contests. This section provides the most important mechanism for determining the accuracy of a paternity test. While extremely rare, even after initial tests indicate a probability of paternity greater than 99.99% it is theoretically possible that additional testing can result in exclusion of the tested man. Likewise, if there is an error in the chain of custody or testing procedures, exclusion is the expected outcome. The only way to reliably determine whether an error occurred is to obtain a second test.

§1908.__Genetic testing when specimens not available

1.__Specimen not available; submission of specimens.__Subject to subsection 2, if a genetic-testing specimen is not available from a man who may be the father of a child, for good cause and under circumstances the court considers to be just, the