https://www.nccourts.gov/help-topics/wills-and-estates/estates
Have you reviewed this, it might provide some free guidance. See the small estate section. You can also call the clerk of the court for your county, I believe that they function as the probate judge and their office will answer pretty much any question you have.
You mentioned life insurance, I assume that you have the policy and that you know who the beneficiary is, also that you’ve spoken to the insurance company. Maybe look at information on the NC Dept of Insurance website or call them and explain the situation to see if they have any suggestions for getting payment or partial payment sooner rather than later, and maybe without the final death certificate. Insurance companies aren’t known for letting go of cash a moment before they must, but there may be a specific request you can file that the insurance company clerk has been told not to explain it to you, the dept of insurance will know.
You could also call some of the lawyers listed here.
http://ncfreelegalhelp.org/ They won’t work for free, but they do consult for free and you can get a lot of information from a free phone consultation with an attorney in your county that has probate experience. Google will give you everything you need to know about a lawyers experience. You may want to write up a summary of the facts before you make the calls so you cover everything efficiently and can get the most from them.
I have a divorced friend who died leaving an ex-wife and 4 children. They are now fine financially, but the ex-wife almost got in a lot of trouble trying to pay all of his creditors in spite of me telling her every day that she needed to take care of the family first. Fortunately she stopped using personal money and life insurance proceeds to her and the children to pay the debts of his estate. As an aside, I was one of his creditors and I didn’t get paid a significant amount. While that’s frustrating, it was the right thing and I don’t fault him or her for the hard decision that I told her she should make; we’re still far better friends than you’ll ever be with Visa or Mastercard even if you pay them. There is a natural tendency for honorable people to take care of the debts of the estate, but that is emotion of the moment compared to a lifetime of future expenses to raise the family.