Just gone through this and have to say it was reasonably straightforward. Pension people are very very slow and did end up being the one thing that held up the process. I'm different in that have left and pension is 'in pay'. Still had a few arguments about CETV (which I lost), but ended up with a reasonable settlement. The fact that your ex can't get the cash until 65 is a reasoanble bargaining tool, as they tend to need money now. I traded off extra equity against my pension.