Louise B. Flajnik

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Senior Associate Attorney

Louise B. Flajnik is a Senior Associate Attorney at Gateville Law Firm with more than three decades of legal experience, including more than 29 years devoted to divorce and family law. Her practice also includes estate planning, trust administration, probate administration, guardianship, and real estate. Louise's broad background is especially valuable when family relationships, business interests, real estate, and accumulated wealth intersect, allowing her to approach complex legal matters with an understanding of the larger family and financial picture.

Louise brings both extensive legal experience and personal perspective to matters involving divorce and blended families. Having experienced co-parenting after divorce and life within a blended family, she understands many of the concerns clients may face when protecting children from a prior relationship, providing for a current spouse, addressing property and financial interests, and creating an estate plan that reflects the realities of the family. She is a seasoned litigator who advocates firmly when necessary, while also recognizing when negotiation or a practical resolution may better serve a client's long-term interests.

Her experience also includes representing families, business owners, and real estate owners with significant financial interests, including multiple properties, investment real estate, farmland, closely held businesses, and retirement assets. These issues often extend across traditional practice areas. In trust administration and probate administration, for example, families may need to address a residence, rental properties, farmland, business interests, or assets accumulated over several generations. Louise's experience helps her identify how estate planning, probate, real estate, business ownership, and family concerns may affect one another.

Louise also works with seniors and families navigating important life transitions, including retirement, wealth transfers, business succession, incapacity, and the death of a loved one. Her experience is particularly relevant to retirement and estate planning for seniors and planning for blended and non-traditional families. Her patient, methodical approach and commitment to clear communication allow her to help clients evaluate difficult decisions involving their families, property, financial security, and legacies. Louise earned her Juris Doctor from Loyola University School of Law and her Bachelor of Arts in Biology from the University of Chicago. She has been licensed to practice law in Illinois since 1994.

Practice Areas

• Family Law and Divorce
• Estate Planning
• Trust Administration
• Probate Administration
• Guardianship
• Real Estate
• Blended Family Estate Planning
• Estate Planning for Seniors

Professional Experience

• Senior Associate Attorney, Gateville Law Firm
• Owner, Flajnik Law Office, 2005–2026
• Associate Attorney, Fay, Farrow & Associates, 1997–2005
• Manager, Legal & Real Estate, Hull House Association, 1996–1997

Education

• Loyola University School of Law, J.D., 1994
• University of Chicago, B.A. in Biology, 1989

Bar Admissions

• Illinois State Bar, 1994
• United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, 1994

Professional Affiliations

• Chicago Bar Association
• Illinois State Bar Association
• Phi Alpha Delta, Vice-Justice and Recruiting Chairperson, 1991–1994
• DuPage County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council, 2002–2005

Community Involvement

• Holy Cross Catholic Church, Finance Council Secretary, 2003–2005
• J.B. Nelson Elementary School P.T.O., Executive Vice President, 2003–2004
• J.B. Nelson Elementary School P.T.O., President, 2004–2005
• J.B. Nelson Elementary School P.T.O., Treasurer, 2005–2006