Banned accounts, inactive accounts, accounts from died people are all deserved to receive merit for all good posts they have ver made before bans, deaths or dormancy.
Maybe, but I personally find it useless to send merit to any of those accounts as they can't send merit back to other members, meaning its wasted.
Well, this is exactly why the whole merit system has several different approaches, which is entirely based on the giver's discretion.
For me, Unless it's a huge proposal thread (could be technical related), or a function for adjustment on the some forum features, I can't send any merit.