Grandparents Sue Widowed Daughter-In-Law After DNA Tests Dispute Boy's Paternity

A court in southern China has rejected a lawsuit by an elderly couple who sought to prove that their late son was not the biological father of the boy they had raised as their grandson, in a case that has exposed a legal deadlock over paternity challenges after a parent’s death.

Lu Fangming and his wife sued their daughter-in-law, Huang, and her 8-year-old son, identified by the pseudonym Xiaohai, after their son Lu Xiaodong died in a traffic accident in May 2024, China Newsweek reported yesterday.

According to Lu Xiaodong’s sister, Lu Yuqing, the family began to suspect the child’s paternity after Huang allegedly acted unusually following Lu’s death. She said Huang took the boy away, cut off contact with his grandparents and declined to have him take part in some local funeral customs. Lu Yuqing said the child had lived with his grandparents for years and had largely been cared for by them since birth.

The family later collected the boy’s hair and nails and commissioned a DNA test, which found no biological grandparent-grandchild relationship between the elderly couple and Xiaohai, Lu Yuqing said. In October 2024, the family applied to obtain a blood sample left from Lu Xiaodong’s emergency treatment after the accident. A second test by another institution also excluded Lu Xiaodong as the child’s biological father, she said.

In January 2025, the grandparents filed a lawsuit in Bobai County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, asking the court to confirm that Xiaohai was not Lu Xiaodong’s biological son. They also sought 195,000 yuan (US$27,000) in child-raising expenses, 50,000 yuan in emotional-damage compensation and 120,000 yuan in funeral-related payments that Huang and the boy had received.

Huang denied deception in court. She argued that the marriage certificate, birth certificate and household registration records proved Xiaohai was born during her marriage to Lu Xiaodong. She said the grandparents had never been asked to raise the child and had not paid his living, education or medical expenses.

Both the first- and second-instance courts rejected the grandparents’ claims.

The courts said Xiaohai was born during the marriage, with official records listing Lu Xiaodong as his father, creating a legally valid father-son relationship. Lu Xiaodong had never denied paternity while alive, the rulings said.

The courts also found procedural flaws in the DNA evidence, saying the child’s legal guardian had not been present to confirm the testing or complete identity verification, making the reports inadmissible.

More importantly, the courts said Chinese law limits the right to challenge or confirm parent-child relationships to the father or mother. Claims by others, including grandparents, should not be supported, particularly when the interests of a minor are involved.

Lu Yuqing said the family has applied for a retrial, and the case has been accepted.