I have seen many lenders require all borrowers be owners of the property. I think that is common.
To answer your questions about capital gains, the first thing to understand is that all income is taxable unless there is a specific exception.
tax code section 121 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/121 has an exception for gains from the sale of a house that "has been owned and used by the taxpayer as the taxpayer's principal residence for periods aggregating 2 years or more." There are lots of modestly-complicated rules about what those terms mean and the time periods that qualify.
But for your purposes it is the "and used by" that clearly means your in-laws do not get to exclude the $250k (single)/$500k (joint) exclusion of section 121 unless they live in that house for a qualifying period.
However you could speak to an attorney about how to structure the deal.
You could buy the house in an LLC that you all contribute to in different % and get out different % (i.e. they put in money, but you make all the payments and keep up the property and you get out all the capital gain upon a sale). Or perhaps easier is that you just have an ownership contract that says who puts in what and who gets out what. The lender might not like the LLC but probably doesn't need to see the ownership agreement.
It is possible (but maybe not) that they could by only a small amount of the property (e.g. 1% not 50%). then their capital gains might not be so large. If you want to be sure the in-law's get their money back on a sale (or your deaths) you could enter into a contract to pay them back the full amount invested but no gain. (Or some gain) and you would legally be liable to do so. If your deaths are an issue there is always life insurance.
You they could own a larger % but immediately sell it to you under a "contract for deed." (That might trigger a due on sale clause on the mortgage, so it probably doesn't work).
But you need a savvy attorney who knows your state real estate laws and tax law ... you might not find that in one person.
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