Maternal or Paternal
 

Is there anyway using ancestry to determine if the match is a maternal or paternal match? I'm hoping rather than expecting a yes answer.

While I'm asking stupid questions - if there is a DNA match, there has to be a direct line ancestor in common somewhere along the line, doesn't there?

1. Only by applying logic. Pure male and pure female lines could be identified, but there is such a huge spectrum of the other matches.

2. If Ancestry say there is only a moderate chance of a match for distant DNA matches, I assume that this must mean that some segments are identical purely by chance.

If one or both of your parents has tested, then you can figure out which parent's side a match is on, if that's what you mean.

Only Dad has tested, I haven't. I was just wondering if there was a way to determine his mother and father's side.

Ethnicity gives me a bit of a clue as Dad's paternal side have some Indian ancestry but not all of his paternal side are Indian, there is English and Scottish and mystery as well.

His mother's side is all English so asian ethnicity indicates it could be the paternal side.

No is the short answer - except by comparing with other results. One reason for having my aunt tested is to have a marker for Dad's DNA in my results - I'm using my cousin as a proxy for Mum's.

Both, of course, are imperfect, but hopefully aunt will flush out some of the more obscure close matches.