My 97 year old mother-in-law is considering going into an assisted living facility. Although she enough money to afford approximately 2 years of residency,
there is the possibility she could out-live her funds. Over the years she has been very generous with her children. I've been told that should she run out of money the facility can "look back" five years and collect what she had gifted her children. Is this true, and if so, what if one or more family members could not afford to pay the facility?
It's more complicated and its not the facility that will "look back," its Medicaid. The assumption is that your mom-in-law will run out of money and she will then apply for nursing home assistance from Medicaid (there is a look-back period for transfer of assets). Therefore, I would suggest that you take this up with an attorney that specialized in assets planning for retires (elder law).
This is a very complex area of the law and not one where you can expect to get free advice on the internet.
Good luck.