Originally Posted by
ScottGem
First, it is not up to you to ask for "soul" custody. That would be the province of the child's clergyperson.
Custody comes in two types, Legal and Physical. You definitely want to ask for SOLE legal custody. This means the father has no say in how the child is raised. You can also ask for SOLE physical custody, which means you control if or when he can see the child.
However, the odds are that you will be granted neither. Generally parents are given joint legal custody with one parent having primary physical custody and the other having visitation rights. In either case, if he gets joint physical custody, that could reduce his support obligation. The less time he is given with the child, the more his support obligation will be.
If he has a history where he has lost custody of previous children (did you know this before having a baby with him?) then there may be grounds for limiting his custody in your case.