If your Theory of Family Relativity™ (TOFR) results look incorrect, the most likely cause is that your DNA kit is assigned to the wrong profile or the wrong family tree. This is the single most common reason for inaccurate, missing, or unexpected results.
How does the Theory of Family Relativity™ work?
The system traces a path connecting your DNA kit to your DNA matches through your family tree:
You (DNA kit) → Your Tree Profile → Your Ancestors → Your DNA Match
This means the system relies on your tree profile to identify your ancestors and find connections. If the link between your DNA kit and your tree profile is incorrect, the entire path becomes invalid and your results will be wrong.
Why might my kit be assigned incorrectly?
This is more common than you might think. It can happen when:
You manage DNA kits for multiple family members and assigned one to the wrong person
You have more than one family tree project and the kit ended up in the wrong one
A kit was transferred or inherited and was never properly reassigned
A profile was merged, edited, or recreated and the kit link was lost in the process
What are the consequences of a wrong assignment?
Depending on the type of error, you may experience different symptoms:
Wrong person (e.g., assigned to a sibling or parent): The system traces your matches through that person's ancestral line instead of yours, resulting in incorrect relationship paths and irrelevant theories.
Wrong tree (e.g., your spouse's tree): Even if the profile name matches yours, the ancestors in that tree are different. This leads to theories that don't reflect your actual family, or no theories at all.
Gender mismatch on the assigned profile: Certain relationship paths are gender-dependent. If your kit is assigned to a profile with the wrong gender, some results may be missing entirely.
Wrong person and wrong tree: The system has no valid path to work with. Expect missing or completely inaccurate results across the board.
How do I fix it?
You can correct this by reassigning your DNA kit to the right person in the right family tree:
⚠️ Important: Once your kit is correctly assigned, leave it there. Unassigning a DNA kit from a profile triggers a reset and will delay your results — including Theory of Family Relativity™ and DNA Matches — until the next recalculation cycle.
When will I see my corrected results?
Theories are not calculated in real-time. Due to the complexity of scanning billions of records and DNA matches, the Theory of Family Relativity™ calculator runs periodically throughout the year.
Once your kit is correctly assigned, your updated theories and DNA Matches will appear automatically during the next scheduled update. No action is needed on your part after reassigning.
Note: Recalculations run on an automatic schedule and cannot be manually triggered or expedited for individual accounts, even by our Support team. We appreciate your patience while your results update.
Tip: If you see "Unknown" individuals appearing in a relationship path, this means a tree or profile involved in that theory was recently deleted. These will disappear automatically the next time theories are recalculated.