Bequest to nation worth £350 million lies untouched However, the bequest has become locked in legal wrangling worthy of the "Jarndyce v Jarndyce" inheritance case in Charles Dickens's Bleak House. Details of the National Fund emerged in the wake of the bequest of £520,000 by Joan Edwards, a former nurse from Bristol, which last week sparked protests after it was revealed the money had been divided up between the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties. Miss Edwards, who died at the age of 90, appeared to have wanted her money to go to "whichever government is in office at the time of my death." Both parties have now given their share of the cash to The Treasury. The National Fund last year paid £1 million in expenses to its investment managers at Baring Brothers, lawyers, and Barclays. A Barclays spokesman said: "We've been working ever since we became the original trustee to change the original objects, which say the funds can only be used to pay off the entire national debt. We are working with the Charity Commission and the Attorney General's Office to look at how best to take the fund forward. It is understood the issue is complicated by the fact that any changes would have to approved by a court. The Attorney General's Office said in a statement: "We are looking at a number of options for the future of the fund, consistent with its object of extinguishing or reducing the national debt." In 1919 Stanley Baldwin, the former Conservative prime minister who at the time was financial secretary to the Treasury, called on the rich to make donations to help pay off war debt. The original £500,000 donation can only have been made by an exceptionally wealthy individual. Legal experts said the Charity Commission had a range of powers to unlock assets for the public good.