4.  The applicant was born in 1929 and lives in Komárom, Hungary. 5.  On 29 April 1991 the applicant brought an action against his former spouse seeking the division of the matrimonial property. 6.  Following three hearings, the District Court was inactive between 9June 1993 and 19 October 1995. The District Court then held four more hearings. On 13 March 1997 the defendant requested that a real-estate expert be appointed. Due to a delay in depositing the expert’s costs attributable to the parties, the expert was only appointed on 19 January 1998. Having obtained evidence from numerous witnesses as well as from a judicial real-estate expert, on 4 June 1998 the Komárom District Court ruled on the division of the property. 7.  On 10 February 1999 the Komárom-Esztergom County Regional Court confirmed the first-instance decision in substance. 8.  On 30 April 1999 the applicant filed a petition for review with the Supreme Court, which on 29 December 2000 upheld the Regional Court’s judgment. This decision was served on the applicant on 16 January 2001.