Growing evidence shows a rising intergenerational persistence of socioeconomic advantage in developed countries. Using a copula-based framework that allows us to identify if the observed level of intergenerational persistence is stronger for inherited advantages or disadvantages, we study how the rank of parental socioeconomic background shaped adult income ranks in Spain along the 2005-2019 period. Our results underscore that, even if persistence has been mainly driven by strong links at the top, its rise between 2005 and 2011 is mostly due to a stronger association at the bottom. Therefore, it is inherited disadvantages that have had a prominent role in determining the observed intergenerational persistence’s trend. Interestingly, however, we also identify a slow reinforcement in the key role of inherited advantages from 2011 onwards.