Person presumed dead - does this sound right?

[nighttimer]

A woman lost touch with her brother - a chronic alcoholic, from what I could gather, who had 'graduated' to metho and the like. The government offered the woman little help tracing the brother, saying their policy was that if a person has not used their bank account or Medicare card in four years, they are presumed dead. What are your views on this?

[Catzeyes]

As a general rule, yes, because nearly everyone uses their medicare card at the very least, on an annual basis and also usually accesses their bank account on a regular basis.

However, thinking outside the box here; if he's a hopeless alcoholic who only needs drink and a place to sleep (e.g. spends what money he has on  alcohol and sleeps in a cardboard box under a bridge and gets his one nourishing meal from St. Vinnie's soup kitchen) I would approach Centrelink.  They will not give details of anyone, however, if it is an urgent situation (has to be urgent) sometimes agree to contact the person.  

If on the other hand, the sister is using the alcoholic word loosely, it may be a whole new ball game and too long to go into details here.