Yes, paternity tests are illegal in France when done privately. Article 16-11 of the Civil Code allows genetic identification for parentage only under a court order issued by a judge hearing a filiation case, and only with the tested person’s express consent.1WIPO Lex. Civil Code (Consolidated Version as of July 1, 2013) Buying an at-home kit, mailing a sample to a foreign lab, or asking someone else to do it for you is a criminal offense punishable by up to a year in prison and a €15,000 fine.
Why France Treats DNA Testing This Way
French law treats genetic information as protected by default rather than available on request. Article 16-10 of the Civil Code limits genetic examinations to medical purposes or scientific research and requires written consent. Article 16-11 restricts identifying a person by their DNA to a narrow set of situations: criminal investigations, identifying the deceased, and civil proceedings to establish or contest parentage. Even in those civil cases, the identification requires a court order from a judge with jurisdiction over filiation, plus the express consent of the person being tested.1WIPO Lex. Civil Code (Consolidated Version as of July 1, 2013)
The policy sits on a specific philosophy that French lawmakers call “la paix des familles,” the peace of families. The reasoning is that unregulated paternity testing would destabilize households and expose children to disputes that might otherwise never arise. Whether that reasoning persuades you or not, it shapes every rule below.
The Criminal Penalties
The Penal Code enforces the Civil Code’s restrictions. Under Article 226-28, seeking genetic identification outside the legally permitted circumstances is punishable by up to one year of imprisonment and a fine of up to €15,000.2Légifrance. Code Pénal – Article 226-28 Article 226-28-1 targets people who request unauthorized genetic identification with a fine of up to €3,750.
Your exposure depends on your role. The person who performs or orders the lab analysis faces the harsher penalty. The person who merely requests the test, such as a parent buying a kit, faces the lower fine. Both are criminal offenses, and either can appear on a criminal record.
What About Ordering a Kit From Abroad?
Dozens of international companies sell DNA paternity kits online, and nothing physically blocks a customer in France from ordering one. About 100,000 people in France do so each year. That doesn’t make it legal. The French prohibition applies regardless of where the laboratory sits, so requesting the test is still an offense under Article 226-28-1, and the €3,750 fine still applies.
Enforcement is uneven. Prosecutions for ordering foreign kits are extremely rare: small packages are hard to distinguish from ordinary mail, prosecutors focus on more serious offenses, and there is usually no complaining victim. Two situations flip that risk.
The first is trying to use the results. Presenting a privately obtained DNA report to a French judge is close to a written confession of the offense. The court will refuse the evidence and may refer the matter for prosecution.
The second is a hostile counterparty. In a contested custody case or divorce, the other parent has every reason to file a criminal complaint once they learn a private test was ordered. What looked like a low-risk shortcut becomes a piece of the litigation running against you.
The Only Legal Route: A Court-Ordered Test
To get a paternity test lawfully in France, you have to be inside a filiation lawsuit, either an action to establish paternity or an action to contest it. Once the case is filed, you ask the judge to order a DNA test. You do not need to gather prior evidence or clues of paternity before making the request. The judge can refuse only on a legitimate basis.3Service Public. In What Setting Can a Paternity Test Be Performed?
Approved technicians in authorized laboratories carry out the test under judicial supervision.3Service Public. In What Setting Can a Paternity Test Be Performed? The judge controls who is tested, which lab handles it, and how the results enter the case record.
If the Other Person Refuses
No one can be physically forced to give a sample. Consent remains a requirement. But a judge is allowed to draw inferences from a refusal, and often does. If a man refuses testing in a case brought to establish that he is the father, the court may treat that refusal as strong evidence that he is.3Service Public. In What Setting Can a Paternity Test Be Performed? Most reluctant parties reconsider at that point, because refusing tends to produce the outcome they were trying to avoid.
Testing After Death
Post-mortem paternity testing is possible only if the deceased person gave express consent while alive. Article 16-11 of the Civil Code bars any genetic identification after death without that prior consent.1WIPO Lex. Civil Code (Consolidated Version as of July 1, 2013) Where such testing is sought, a judge must still order it, and hiring a lawyer is required.3Service Public. In What Setting Can a Paternity Test Be Performed? In practice, most men never document such consent, so DNA is not available to their biological children after they die.
How Long You Have to Bring a Case
Because testing only happens inside a lawsuit, the deadlines for filing that lawsuit matter. Missing them ends the right to bring the claim at all.
The general limitation period for filiation actions is ten years. For a child, the clock is suspended during minority and starts at age 18, so a child can file an action to establish paternity up to age 28.4Ministère de la Justice. Recherche de Paternité
Contesting an existing paternity follows different timelines. The general rule allows contestation within ten years from the date of birth or recognition.5Service Public. Contestation de la Filiation (Paternité ou Maternité) A shorter window applies when the birth certificate and the lived family relationship match. Under Article 333 of the Civil Code, when a child’s “possession of status,” the day-to-day reality of being raised as that parent’s child, is consistent with the title on the birth certificate, only the child, a parent, or the person claiming to be the biological parent can contest, and they must do so within five years of when the family relationship ended or the parent died. Once that consistent possession of status has lasted at least five years from birth or acknowledgment, no one except the state prosecutor can contest.1WIPO Lex. Civil Code (Consolidated Version as of July 1, 2013) A child contesting their own filiation keeps the suspension during minority and has until age 28.
One boundary to note: if you consented before a notary to medically assisted reproduction using donor gametes, Articles 311-19 and 311-20 of the Civil Code block any later attempt to contest your child’s filiation on genetic grounds. A DNA test cannot undo that consent.6Service Public. Assisted Human Reproduction (ART)
What a Paternity Case Costs
French civil courts have not charged fees for issuing proceedings or entering judgment since 1977, so filing a filiation action does not carry a court fee.7European e-Justice Portal. Costs – France The main expense is a lawyer, whose fees are freely negotiated. For some initial applications related to parental responsibility, a lawyer may not be required at all.
Legal aid (“aide juridictionnelle”) is available for family proceedings, including paternity cases. Eligibility looks at reference tax income, real estate assets outside your primary residence, and movable assets. For a single-person household in 2026, full legal aid is available if reference tax income does not exceed €12,957; a four-person household qualifies with income up to €19,095. Partial legal aid covering 55% or 25% of costs is available at higher income levels.8Service Public. Legal Aid in Proceedings in France Minors who are parties to the proceedings receive legal aid automatically, with no application needed.