Is it common sense though? After all, the limit's been put in for a reason. A good solution could be to create a new legal identity for the person in question

Is it common sense though? After all, the limit's been put in for a reason. A good solution could be to create a new legal identity for the person in question rather than trying to undo the death ruling. This could also be used to account for the Social Security benefits already paid out and such. After all, this is not a matter of life and death. It's a question entirely of bureaucracy. So "common sense" isn't applicable: the real question is not "is this guy dead" (he isn't, obviously) but "how to rectify this fact with existing systems".