Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in North Carolina

Unfortunately, all of the things that you have is not going to be proof. You either need a written and signed acknowledgement of paternity or you need to prove paternity by DNA testing. You do not indicate where your father lived at the time of his death. It matters as that is the state whose law will govern. If you were named as the beneficiary on life insurance, then probate has nothing to do with that because life insurance proceeds are a non-probate asset.

I suggest that you immediately get to a probate attorney who practices in the state/county where your father lived at the time of his death. You need to know what assets are in your father's estate and how they are titled and how you go about establishing paternity. You also do not indicate whether an estate is pending for your father and whether your stepmother is the personal representative. There are time restrictions in some states and you do not indicate when your father passed.