It doesn't go before a judge, it goes before the Clerk of Court.
It can take a long time depending on fast the attorney gets the paperwork done. Once the petition is submitted to the Clerk of Court's office they have a certain amount of days to respond. I think it's 30 but I could be wrong. Also, DSS has to be notified so they can do a homestudy. They have a certain amount of time they have to respond. I don't remember exactly how many days it is. Then they have X amount of time to get the homestudy done. This is where a big delay can happen. They can take forever getting this done, so you would need to stay on their butts about it. It can take several months for everything to get done. Usually 3 is the minimum but often takes longer.
As long as DSS approves the homestudy there is usually no reason why the Clerk of Court would oppose a consentual stepparent adoption, with the exceptions that nextwife mentioned.
Here's NC laws on adoptions.
http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/Statutes/StatutesTOC.pl?Chapter=0048