Did the native of Russia refuse her American family and leave a $700,000 inheritance to a Greek charity organization?

Matula Papadopuli, born and educated in Rhode Island, turned away from her American family and moved back to her homeland - Greece. She has spent the last15 years on the island of Skiathos in the Aegean Sea off the Greek coast. She left everything in her sealed will to the Greek charity organization "The Smile of the Child" and told her lawyer she did not want her American relatives to inherit anything. In2015, she passed away in a Greek hospital.

There is another version of her later years. She was a librarian, graduated with a bachelor's degree from Tufts University and a master's degree from the University of Rhode Island. She also served in the military and was stationed in Turkey and Greece. She was diagnosed with brain cancer in2014. When she became unable to care for herself, she moved from her apartment in Portsmouth to her cousin's house, Kintii Kendall. The Kendalls accompanied Papadopuli for cancer treatment and to doctors. When cancer took away her cognitive abilities, Papadopuli angrily tore up the printed will, prepared by a lawyer, leaving everything to the Kendalls and their two sisters. Immediately after destroying the will, Papadopuli tearfully apologized to the Kendalls and promised to rectify the situation.

Towards the end of April2015, Papadopuli returned to Skiathos before being hospitalized, where she died on October4 of the same year.

Currently, the charity organization "The Smile of the Child" and the Kendall family are in a dispute over an estate estimated to be worth $700,000. Both parties are not publicly commenting on the situation, so the story of Matula A. Papadopuli is based on court documents and public records.

The Kendalls claim that the sealed will, which leaves everything to a charitable organization, is a forgery, and they assert that the man living in Papadopouli's basement in Greece, who was allowed to spend the rest of his life in her home, exerted undue influence on her.

The organization doubts the tens of thousands of dollars and more than $100,000 that the Kendalls transferred from Papadopoulos's accounts to their own. The Kendalls claim that this money was a gift that Papadopoulos wanted them to spend on improving their home, taking care of Kynthia Kendall's parents, and paying off student loans for their adult sons.

Matula Papadopulis was born on January 12, 1955, in Newport and was the only child of Greek immigrants Alexandros Papadopulis and Despina Michail. Cynthia Kendall stated in her court testimony that they "grew up together" and were very close for many years. The Kendalls were almost like sisters to Papadopulis. Aside from the eight years spent during and after college, Cynthia Kendall had always lived in Middletown, while Papadopulis lived in different states.

During her time on the island of Skiathos, Papadopuli spent the last four years of her life with Yiannis Kontomanis, who was also known as Ioannis N. Kontomanis or Yiannis. The two sides describe her relationship with this man differently. The charity organization describes him as "Ms. Papadopuli's life partner." However, Kynthia Kendall claims that Papadopuli referred to him as her friend who needed a place to stay. Kynthia's visit to Skiathos did not impress her; she saw "a lot of junk and animals," and her cousin was unhappy with the mess.

According to preliminary data, in 2013 Papadopouli wrote a new will by hand: "I, Matula Papadopouli, leave all my property to the charitable organization Hamogelo tou Paidiou ("Smile of the Child")www.hamogelo.gr“John N. Kontomanis will retain the right to live in my house on Skiathos, in Saint George, as long as he is alive and takes care of my animals.” It is said that she gave this will to Stilani Lilu, her lawyer, after which Lilu presented it in a Greek court, and the organization "The Smile Of The Child" was recognized as the sole owner of all of Papadopoulos' property.

Upon learning about the handwritten will, the Kendalls began to suspect it was forged.

The Greek first-instance court confirmed the validity of the will. The family has filed an appeal to a higher court, which has scheduled a hearing for November.

On September 9, 2014, Papadopouli was on the phone in Skiathos when she had a seizure. According to a report from Tufts Medical Center, she lost the ability to speak and collapsed. Her partner found her unconscious and called for an ambulance. She was taken to a hospital on the Greek mainland, where an MRI revealed a tumor in her brain. Another MRI conducted two weeks later showed that the tumor had grown. Kynthia Kendall was offered to bring her to the United States, but the doctors strongly advised against it. However, Papadopouli insisted and returned to Greece in January 2015. Soon her condition worsened. "She had a lot of paranoid hallucinations," the Tufts report stated. The Kendalls flew to Greece and brought Papadopouli back to the United States. In March of that year, Papadopouli went to a lawyer's office, after which a friend informed Kynthia Kendall that she was "tearing up" the 2001 will that left everything to her and her sisters. The next day, Robert Kendall returned home and found Papadopouli having a seizure. She was taken to a hospital in Newport and then transferred to Tufts. Later, she spoke with Robert Kendall on the phone. "She was talking to my husband on the phone," Kynthia Kendall said, "crying and apologizing, and just madly regretting and lamenting what she had done." Robert Kendall said, "She apologized and said she would fix everything, and that she would take care of it... I realized she was going to rewrite the will." But she never did. The following month, she returned to Greece for the last time, leaving a mystery that is still being resolved on two continents.