Can a spouse with a mental disability be granted child custody?

Question Detail

Can a disabled spouse who has a mental disability retain legal joint custody of the children? The father is on SSDI with mental issues and has a recent felony, and the mother is full time employed

Answer

When deciding custody and visitation issues, the court uses the “best interests” of the child standard. If the father’s disability affects his parenting ability and places the children in harm, than he may not be granted primary custody, but he may be granted reasonable visitation or supervised visitation. While you mention legal custody in your question, please note there are two types of custody: legal and physical. Legal custody deals with making decisions for issues such as education, health, etc.