No one really want to think about this, but it happens. You’ve always meant to DNA test someone, and they’ve agreed, but either you didn’t order the kit, or the kit is far away from where they passed away. What can you do? Take heart, all is not lost. You have two options. Swabbing the…
via DNA Testing the Recently Deceased — DNAeXplained – Genetic Genealogy.
Also, check with state law if the person refused to get DNA tested while living as some states allow that refusal to carry on past death. In other states, the next of kin determine if the refusal can be overridden once the person has died.
My friend got a call from the nursing home about his father-in-law. They estimated he had 48 hours to live. My friend had planned on getting DNA tests for him, but he knew they wouldn’t arrive in time. He called FamilyTree DNA (FTDNA) and they told him to pick up a DNA paternity cheek swab kit from a local drug store and walked him through the process of how to send it into FTDNA. He got enough samples and sent them in shortly before his father-in-law passed. He received the DNA results several weeks after the funeral.
My suggestion for someone who has recently passed, time is of the essence so grabbing a DNA paternity kit from a local store is your best bet. Even if they don’t embalm right away, the odds of getting usable DNA from a deceased person drop significantly the longer a person has been dead from other reports I have seen.
Ups Downs Family History 