Teenage Maintenance

Flurry

If all goes well with current negotiations, my children, aged 15 & 17, will receive a lump sum from my emigrating ex instead of continued maintenance. Some of it will be required immediately to support them, but as it is for several years' maintenance I would like to save/invest about half (total £20,000?) which would not need to be touched for two years.

They seem to fall between two stools - no longer eligible for children's accounts, but unable to open for example the Alliance & Leicester account for which you have to be 18. Obviously it would be good to avoid tax.

I am tempted by the idea of a cheap buy-to-let for the lower end of the market, but don't know if I will have the energy for such a commitment if I survive the next few months!

All advice gratefully received, especially from anybody who has been in this situation.