The Tories and Lib Dems are facing calls to hand back a large bequest, amid claims it was intended for the benefit of the nation.
Bristol nurse Joan Edwards left £520,000 to "whichever government is in office... to use as they may think fit," according to the Daily Mail.
The money was divided up between the Lib Dems and Conservatives.
The parties say they were guided by the will's executors but Labour's Jim Murphy said it "looks dodgy as hell".
Conservative backbencher Zac Goldsmith also joined in the criticism, saying: "This needs to be sorted out now. No-one can truly believe this lady wanted her money squandered on electioneering."
Ms Edwards, who died last September aged 90, was the biggest donor to the Tories and Lib Dems between April and June.
'As they see fit'Her name emerged when the Electoral Commission published the latest figures on donations to political parties on Tuesday.
"Start Quote
End Quote Paul Flynn Labour MPIt certainly sounds that this was a generous gesture for the benefit of nation, and doesn't look like she intended it for party political purposes."
The Conservatives received £420,576 and the Lib Dems got £99,423 from the bequest during the second quarter of the year.
The Lib Dems told the BBC she had left the money to "whoever was in government". It was divided up according to the number of MPs and ministers of each party.
But the Daily Mail says the will actually specified the money should go to "whichever government is in office at the date of my death for the government in their absolute discretion to use as they may think fit".
The newspaper suggested this meant the money was actually intended as a bequest to the nation.
There has been no complaint from the will's executors.
But Labour politicians have questioned the decision to classify the money as a party political donation.
Former deputy prime minister Lord Prescott said the parties "must hand back" the cash while backbencher Ian Austin urged them to "do the decent thing".
Shadow Defence Secretary Jim Murphy wrote on Twitter: "Unless tomorrow's explanation of this is much clearer & more credible, this looks dodgy as hell by Tories & Libs".
And Labour backbencher Paul Flynn told the Mail: "It certainly sounds that this was a generous gesture for the benefit of the nation, and doesn't look like she intended it for party political purposes. To suggest it should go to the party coffers of parties in power seems a perverse judgment."
'Correct recipient'Sir Alistair Graham, a former chairman of the committee on standards in public life, told BBC Radio 4: "They seemed to have very quickly distributed the loot between the two of them in an equitable sort of way, so you would have thought they might have done a bit more work to check who the lady was, what her intentions were, what were the terms of the will."
He said the responsibility for making sure that assets were properly distributed lay with the executors of the estate but if there was any doubt, they should consider returning the money.
"Start Quote
End Quote Steve Webb Lib Dem ministersI absolutely think that this lady's wishes should be honoured, whatever they were"
Lib Dem sources told the BBC the solicitors who were the executors of the will told the party they had first contacted HM Treasury solicitors and the office of the attorney general, seeking advice, before they finalised the bequest.
A spokesman for the attorney general's office said the Treasury Solicitor had replied on Mr Grieve's behalf suggesting "further steps the executors might wish to take to identify the correct recipient of the bequest".
He added: "It did not, nor could have, advised to whom the bequest should go."
The BBC's Robin Brant said the attorney general's office said the will had not been dealt with by Dominic Grieve himself - a Conservative MP.
Lib Dem Pensions Minister Steve Webb told the BBC he understood that his party had checked with the executors of Miss Edwards's will that the money had been intended to be a party donation.
But he added: "I absolutely think that this lady's wishes should be honoured, whatever they were."
Asked if that could mean the money going to the Treasury, he said: "I haven't seen the will. If the will said the money should go to the Treasury, of course it should go there. That's obviously not what the executors thought should happen to the money but the lady's wishes are obviously paramount."
A spokesperson for the Conservative Party said: "The solicitors for the deceased, acting as the executors, informed the Conservative Party that it was a beneficiary of the will."
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