<human>: The mother has been psychotic and abusive (emotionally and verbally, but has now moved in to physically occasionally as well) for a long time. My sister wants to get legal emancipation and a restraining order. The problem is that her mother is very smart and very, VERY wealthy. The mother has already spent *huge* amounts of money winning custody battles (and slandering) my sister's bio father. 

My sister is worried because her mother is very charismatic in person, and is afraid that if her mother found out that she was trying to escape she would be taken away and put in a world of trouble. Her mother also uses the best lawyers that money can buy. What does my sister need to know about the legal system to get away? What can she do against powerful lawyers and the many character witnesses that her mother can produce about how my little sister is terrible and the mother is long-suffering and wonderful (even though my sister is literally genius level intelligent and obedient to a fault, and the mother is honestly evil)? I am willing to testify on her behalf, and we have one other who can be witness, and she does have a little bit of video footage of her mother blowing up at her but because it was in public it doesn't show how bad it can really get. 

My sister is planning on taking a break during school to walk over to the Department of Justice and ask questions to start the process, starting with the question, "what can I tell you, and what information can you give me before you have to notify my legal guardian that I am here".

I know that reddit can't give legal advice, but any information on what her options are, and what questions she should ask would be hugely helpful.

Give me the gist of the text in a nutshell
<bot>: My little sister needs information to escape a very charismatic, smart, psychotic and wealthy mother who is very abusive in private but in public most people think is wonderful