If a person is incapable of managing his own estate by reason of advanced age, physical incapacity or mental weakness, or because the person is missing or outside of the United States and unable to return, the chancery court of the county wherein the person resides or, in the case of a missing or absent person, the chancery court of the county where the person most recently resided, upon the petition of the person or of one or more of his friends or relatives, may appoint a conservator to have charge and management of the property of the person and, if the court deems it advisable, also to have charge and custody of the person subject to the direction of the appointing court.