It seems to me that the key in making this decision is whether or not Google still shows the links from these domains in Webmaster Tools. If the links don't show up there, then there's no reason to disavow them. But if they're still showing, it's probably best to disavow them.

It can take an incredibly long time for Google to remove old links from their system. I can tell you from a recent experience that links from deeply-buried pages in the inky shadows of large websites can take more than a year to drop out of Google. And since it can't hurt you to include those domains in your disavowal list, I'd certainly suggest that you do it if you think the links are bad for your site.

Thanks so much for your reply. It confirms my thinking. I have seen several domains that are either offline or are no longer linking to me (in some cases for a few years) that continue to appear in WMT. Will definitely keep these in the disavow just to be safe. Thanks again!

It won't hurt to have them, but I wouldn't go out of my way spending time adding them or anything like that because it's unnecessary -- Basically, if they're on a bulk list I wouldn't spend time removing them, but if they're not I wouldn't spend time adding them either.

I have seen several domains that are either offline or are no longer linking to me (in some cases for a few years) that continue to appear in WMT.

How did I know you wondered, because they were in WMT even before I read your second post? Ignore WMT for the most part. It's out-of-date and glitchy at best.

One thing about expired domains is that some people will buy those old domains and then copy the content that was on their previously (including the link to your site) and put it back on the site.

So those links COULD reappear again in the future.

What rainborick said