We establish existence of global solutions to a dynamic problem of bilateral contact between a rigid surface and a viscoelastic body, subject to rate‐and‐state friction. The term rate‐and‐state friction describes friction laws where the friction is rate‐dependent and depends on an additional internal state variable defined on the contact surface. Our mathematical conditions rule out certain slip laws, but do cover the ageing law, and thus at least one of the rate‐and‐state friction laws commonly used in the geoscience.
