Legal Question in Real Estate Law in New York

ownership of home in dispute

According to the Real Property Tax Service of my home county in New York State, I am the SOLE owner of our family home. They insist that this is verified by the deed which says ''JOHN DOE(my brother), residing at (gives address) with LIFE USE ONLY and FRANK DOE(gives address), THE REMAINDER INTEREST, parties of the second part, their distributees and assigns forever.'' (names are fake of course)

However, my lawyer says this is all wrong: He claims that

''JOHN has an ownership interest in the property since he has a life estate. Ignore what The Tax Service told you. You are BOTH the owners of the property; you just have different interests in the property. During his lifetime, JOE has the right to use it. After he dies, you (or your estate if you predecease him) can do whatever you like with it, while in contrast, once JOE dies, his heirs have zero interest in the property.''

Am I the SOLE owner of the property as the Tax Service claims, or am I co-owner with my brother as my attorney claims??

This is important because my brother just took out a huge loan, using the house as collateral; I'd think that if I am the SOLE owner, he could not legally do this, and of couse a lien is now attached to the house.

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