N.C. Gen. Stat. § 40A-69: Property subject to life tenancy.

If the property taken is subject to a life tenancy, the commissioners, the jury, or the judge may include in the judgment a requirement that:

(1) The award be apportioned and distributed on the basis of the respective values of the interests of the life tenant and remainderman;

(2) The compensation be used to purchase comparable property to be held subject to the life tenancy;

(3) The compensation be held in trust and administered subject to the terms of the instrument that created the life tenancy; or

(4) Any other equitable arrangement be carried out. (1981, c. 919, s. 1.)