diff --git a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/annotator/VariantAnnotator.java b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/annotator/VariantAnnotator.java
index fb3dbc3cf..27a750f99 100755
--- a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/annotator/VariantAnnotator.java
+++ b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/annotator/VariantAnnotator.java
@@ -162,6 +162,12 @@ public class VariantAnnotator extends RodWalker<Integer, Integer> implements Ann
     @Argument(fullName="vcfContainsOnlyIndels", shortName="dels",doc="Use if you are annotating an indel vcf, currently VERY experimental", required = false)
     protected boolean indelsOnly = false;
 
+    @Argument(fullName="family_string",shortName="family",required=false,doc="A family string of the form mom+dad=child for use with the mendelian violation ratio annotation")
+    public String familyStr = null;
+
+    @Argument(fullName="MendelViolationGenotypeQualityThreshold",shortName="mvq",required=false,doc="The genotype quality treshold in order to annotate mendelian violation ratio")
+    public double minGenotypeQualityP = 0.0;
+
     private VariantAnnotatorEngine engine;
 
     private Collection<VariantContext> indelBufferContext;
diff --git a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/variantutils/SelectVariants.java b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/variantutils/SelectVariants.java
index 018c4dcc2..e1de06ec0 100755
--- a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/variantutils/SelectVariants.java
+++ b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/variantutils/SelectVariants.java
@@ -452,7 +452,7 @@ public class SelectVariants extends RodWalker<Integer, Integer> {
                         throw new UserException.CouldNotCreateOutputFile(outMVFile, "Can't open output file", e);   }
             }
             else
-                mvSet.add(new MendelianViolation(getToolkit(), MENDELIAN_VIOLATION_QUAL_THRESHOLD));
+                mvSet.add(new MendelianViolation(FAMILY_STRUCTURE, MENDELIAN_VIOLATION_QUAL_THRESHOLD));
         }
         else if (!FAMILY_STRUCTURE.isEmpty()) {
             mvSet.add(new MendelianViolation(FAMILY_STRUCTURE, MENDELIAN_VIOLATION_QUAL_THRESHOLD));
diff --git a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/MendelianViolation.java b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/MendelianViolation.java
index c6a07b5ce..8da118174 100755
--- a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/MendelianViolation.java
+++ b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/MendelianViolation.java
@@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
 package org.broadinstitute.sting.utils;
 
+import org.apache.commons.lang.ArrayUtils;
 import org.broadinstitute.sting.gatk.GenomeAnalysisEngine;
 import org.broadinstitute.sting.gatk.datasources.sample.Sample;
 import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.exceptions.UserException;
 import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.variantcontext.Genotype;
 import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.variantcontext.VariantContext;
 
+import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.regex.Matcher;
@@ -32,6 +34,9 @@ public class MendelianViolation {
 
     private static Pattern FAMILY_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("(.*)\\+(.*)=(.*)");
 
+    static final int[] mvOffsets = new int[] { 1,2,5,6,8,11,15,18,20,21,24,25 };
+    static final int[] nonMVOffsets = new int[]{ 0,3,4,7,9,10,12,13,14,16,17,19,22,23,26 };
+
 
     public String getSampleMom() {
         return sampleMom;
@@ -168,4 +173,41 @@ public class MendelianViolation {
         return true;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * @return the likelihood ratio for a mendelian violation
+     */
+    public double violationLikelihoodRatio(VariantContext vc) {
+        double[] logLikAssignments = new double[27];
+        // the matrix to set up is
+        // MOM   DAD    CHILD
+        //                    |-  AA
+        //   AA     AA    |    AB
+        //                    |-   BB
+        //                    |- AA
+        //  AA     AB     |   AB
+        //                    |- BB
+        // etc. The leaves are counted as 0-11 for MVs and 0-14 for non-MVs
+        double[] momGL = vc.getGenotype(sampleMom).getLikelihoods().getAsVector();
+        double[] dadGL = vc.getGenotype(sampleDad).getLikelihoods().getAsVector();
+        double[] childGL = vc.getGenotype(sampleChild).getLikelihoods().getAsVector();
+        int offset = 0;
+        for ( int oMom = 0; oMom < 3; oMom++ ) {
+            for ( int oDad = 0; oDad < 3; oDad++ ) {
+                for ( int oChild = 0; oChild < 3; oChild ++ ) {
+                    logLikAssignments[offset++] = momGL[oMom] + dadGL[oDad] + childGL[oChild];
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        double[] mvLiks = new double[12];
+        double[] nonMVLiks = new double[15];
+        for ( int i = 0; i < 12; i ++ ) {
+            mvLiks[i] = logLikAssignments[mvOffsets[i]];
+        }
+
+        for ( int i = 0; i < 15; i++) {
+            nonMVLiks[i] = logLikAssignments[nonMVOffsets[i]];
+        }
+
+        return MathUtils.log10sumLog10(mvLiks) - MathUtils.log10sumLog10(nonMVLiks);
+    }
 }